This resource is part of a series of reports about challenges facing statewide science assessments and innovative solutions states are enacting to meet those challenges. Deciding to implement a system of assessments is a critical step toward ensuring that all students are getting the high-quality science education they need--but it is also…

"Transforming Science Assessment: Systems for Innovation," is a series of resources designed to provide state education leaders with: (1) Information about how states are currently pursuing statewide assessment systems in science; (2) Analyses of what features influence different approaches, with an eye to supporting state leaders as…

Colorado is in the middle of the dropout epidemic facing the nation--in fact its dropout rate is significantly higher than most states. For the sake of the students and the state, it is a crisis Colorado cannot afford to ignore. A combined total of 48,526 students dropped out of Colorado's public school system during the three school years between…

California's approximately 500 continuation high schools are estimated to serve more than 115,000 California high school students each year--a number that approaches almost 10 percent of all high school students and as many as one of every seven high school seniors. Continuation schools are, however, more racially and ethnically concentrated than…

Article provided a list of "Our Schools" goals, adopted by the New Jersey State Board of Education on April 12, 1972. These were written goals that were required of school districts and based on district needs. Outcome goals, statements about what people should be and become as a consequence of their school experience, and process goals,…

Discusses the interface between the various educational organizations, the necessary information base, and planning mechanisms and structures.'' (Editor)

Author appraised the school finance reform movement and discussed the origins and aspirations of the movement, the critical decisions of Serrano and Rodriquez, the reform developments in state legislatures, and the alternatives proposed as fiscal solutions. (Editor/RK)

This report synthesizes two research projects initiated by the Illinois State Board of Education on the development of a definition of schooling and on the analysis of mandates implemented by the state for special education, bilingual education, and instructional programs in elementary and secondary schools. The report is presented in five…

"T & E" (Thorough and Efficient Education) requires that New Jersey's schools set standards that will be functional and continuous. Here is an educationally viable approach to handle what has become a "political" issue. (Editor/RK)

Through involvement in a project to redefine educational goals and redesign the local educational system, community members gain insights into the operation of the school system and acquire skills in influencing its future direction. (WM)

One cannot gauge or understand the performance of an educational system by examining the output of that system alone. Presents and discusses four constructs--effectiveness, efficiency, responsiveness, and fidelity--which relate the output of an educational system to the important educational, economic, political and social factors which influence…

Vermont's State Board of Education in 1990 set four primary goals for its educational system: produce well-rounded individuals and citizens, restructure schools to support very high performance for all students, develop the best teachers and administrators in the nation, and create partnerships to support education. Also, a common core of learning…

Washington's recently enacted Student Learning Objectives Law demands that local districts implement a program designed to provide statewide educational accountability. The law ignores the complexity of such an implementation, providing no funding, no rewards for success, no assistance or training in developing implementation techniques, and a…

Legislation dealing with competency testing in general falls into the following categories: (1) mandating uniform statewide minimum competency testing, to which high school diplomas and/or grade promotion is related; (2) mandating uniform statewide minimum competency testing to be used for improvement of instruction but not tied to grade promotion…