School districts and states across the Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic Region and the country as a whole have been modifying their teacher evaluation systems to identify more effective and less effective teachers and provide better feedback to improve instructional practice. The new systems typically include components related to…

Research over the past two decades has shown the alignment of teachers’ instruction with state standards is generally weak. Proposing that alignment is a useful measure of teachers' curricular knowledge (Shulman, 1986), this study uses a large database of teacher reports of their content coverage to understand the relationship of teacher…

An increasingly popular, but underresearched, initiative aimed at reducing high school dropout is raising the compulsory school attendance age. This study used a national data set from academic years 2001-02 to 2005-06 to examine the grade level at which students drop out, rates of dropout over time, and high school completion by state, region of…

THIS REPORT EVALUATES THE PROGRESS OF 14 PILOT INTERMEDIATE SCHOOLS ORGANIZED IN SEPTEMBER 1966 INTO EITHER A 6-7-8 OR A 5-6-7 GRADE STRUCTURE. NINE OF THE SCHOOLS SERVE CHILDREN IN ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED AREAS. A SPECIALLY REVISED CURRICULUM WAS INTRODUCED INTO THE PILOT SCHOOLS AT THE SIXTH-GRADE LEVEL. EXTENSIVE TEACHER TRAINING PRECEDED…