In spring 2009, the Center on Education Policy (CEP) continued its research on the impact of test-based federal and state accountability policies by conducting case studies of six high schools in six different districts within Washington State. The purpose was to learn more about the curricular and instructional changes that administrators and…

In many school districts, the pressure to raise test scores has created overnight celebrity status for formative assessment. Its powers to raise student achievement have been touted, however, without attending to the research on which these claims were based. Sociocultural learning theory provides theoretical grounding for understanding how…

Reported is a project designed to develop and implement a secondary school physics program that allowed for student variation in individual learning style, mathematical aptitude and topical interests. Initiated in 1967, this four-year individualized, modular program is divided into four major phases: (1) introductory and instruments, (2)…

Conclusions reached after three years of performance contracting experience and materials with which to judge the validity of the conclusions are presented in this overview of performance contracting. The conclusions are: (1) commercial firms are no better at teaching children than are public schools; (2) commercial firms expend as much or more…

This manual is intended for use in training new and first-year adult basic education (ABE) teachers in Kentucky. Discussed in the introductory chapter are the roots of ABE in Kentucky, the basic goals and objectives of ABE, and the ways in which programs are established and operated locally. Next, the characteristics of adult students are…