This policy brief was written to provide the North Carolina State Board of Education with a research summary on the provision of rewards to high-performing school districts. A 1988 study of state accountability systems across the United States suggested that maintaining an appropriate balance between state oversight of performance and local…

This issue of State Education Leader titled "Public Policy and Community Colleges" focuses on issues of importance to community colleges. The highlighted articles in this issue discuss current legislation and reform that has impacted community colleges. In "Challenges Yet Unmet," Katherine Boswell discusses how state policy leaders look to…

This document outlines a community-based state school system that allows a large degree of local autonomy in exchange for heightened accountability for school performance. It highlights a model education platform for candidates in the 1994 election. A system of educational excellence for the 21st century would be performance-based, locally…

As of January 1996, 20 states had enacted charter school laws. This brief summarizes the history of charter school laws and updates their current status across the country. The brief presents the findings of various charter school research projects conducted at the state and national levels. When substantive changes have been made to existing…

In the Australian state of Victoria, virtually all decisions about spending, curriculum, and personnel are made at the school level. Victoria's experience in developing a system of school-based management (SBM) and shared decision making offers a perspective on school reform efforts in the United States. Underlying the school restructuring trends…

This report is one in a series of papers documenting, analyzing, and interpreting changes in federal educational policy since President Reagan assumed office in January 1981. The focus of this report is the future of educational policy. The root problem examined deals with electoral policies and the apparent apathy of the public. Results of polls…

This collection of articles addresses major questions of community college governance and highlights some of the changes that have taken place in governance over the past decade. The issue contains: (1) "State Power in a New Era: Threats to Local Authority," by Dale Tillery and James L. Wattenbarger; (2) "Power on the Periphery: Faculty and…

Representatives of Saskatchewan school boards have formed the Small Schools Network, which met three times in 1995 to share ideas regarding small schools. This first report from the Small Schools Network articulates significant concerns and questions related to education in small schools. Unclear definitions of the small school present a barrier…

School restructuring requires the critical assessment of all aspects of the educational system, including the goals of schooling; organization and management at the local, district, and state levels, curriculum; instruction; roles and responsibilities of educational personnel, students, and parents; school finance; and education regulation and…

This issue summarizes study findings on how education agencies in California, Nevada, and Utah are responding to federal cutbacks, consolidation, and deregulation. Using the term "school improvement" to refer to a wide variety of activities and services, negative factors identified by the researchers include: elimination of many…

This document is a series of 1999 newsletters from the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges. Reoccurring issues covered in the newsletters are technology and distance education, full-time and part-time faculty, state budget and legislative updates, accreditation, and areas of interest specific to California Community Colleges and the…

Since the 1960s, crime and violence have been increasing in schools. This document focuses on crime involving physical harm or the threat of physical harm to a student or staff member on school grounds or at school events. Chapter 1 reviews past trends in school violence, describes the current extent of the problem, and explores some of its…

This brief provides an overview of three recent state court cases in Alabama, Wyoming, and Ohio that uniquely address the constitutionality of state special education finance systems. In each case, the courts found the special education finance systems to be unconstitutional due to inequitable or inadequate funding for children with disabilities.…

This collection of short articles, devoted to educational reform at the local level, addresses the issues of improving curricula, expanding educational resources, addressing dropout and discipline problems, and handling increased court involvement in school reform. "The Sceptre, the Rod and the Schoolhouse Gate," by Lawrence Friedman, traces the…

The goal of the doctoral dissertation summarized here was to develop a set of recommended guidelines to be used in developing standards and procedures for elementary and secondary public school facility construction in Arizona. The study focuses on determining the essential elements of these guidelines and on determining which of these elements…