This report compares California's reading and mathematics performance on the most recent administrations of the state assessment with performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). To indicate how California is doing in narrowing the academic achievement gap between African American, Latino, or low-income students and their…

The economic benefits of the General Educational Development certificate (GED) were examined through a review of four published papers and four unpublished working papers on the GED's benefits. Key findings were as follows: (1) a GED provides economic benefits only to low-skilled dropouts; (2) economic benefits of a GED appear over time--often…

This publication highlights statistics showing the progress made during the past quarter-century in educating children with disabilities. It also includes data showing how much more needs to be done to prepare all students with disabilities for a productive and independent future. Part 1 discusses sources of the statistics and the key role of the…

These papers address three issues of concern to educators of language minority students: preparation of quality teachers, the effects of standardized and high-stakes testing on language learners, and specific teaching strategies that view language minority students as capable and deserving of first-class educational opportunities. After an…

This book discusses how best to instruct students, reviewing and evaluating the many educational reforms and innovations that have been proposed and employed over the past century and comparing achievement rates resulting from traditional, teacher-centered approaches with those resulting from progressive, student-centered methods. Findings…

This paper provides an extensive review of the most relevant issues involved in the management of teacher demand and supply at the pre-tertiary level. First, it proposes a conceptual framework for distinguishing among, defining and relating the different relevant factors. Second, it identifies trends and policy concerns regarding the quality of…

This report is the second in a series of policy papers on the education of educators. It identifies several model teacher education programs, but also finds that the majority of the nation's teachers are prepared in programs that have low admission and graduation standards and cling to an outdated vision of teacher education. Both state…

The National Longitudinal Evaluation of Comprehensive School Reform (NLECSR) is a quantitative and qualitative study of behavior, decisions, processes, and outcomes. It employs a quasi-experimental design with matched treatment and comparison schools. NLECSR seeks to determine the effects of CSR models on student achievement in about 650…

In the fall of 2005, the New Mexico Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey (NM YRRS) was conducted in New Mexico public high schools, with 5,679 students in grades nine through twelve participating from 20 public high schools in the state. The NM YRRS is a tool that can assist administrators and policy makers in identifying health risk behaviors among…

This action research project evaluated an intervention to improve student motivation, attendance, homework return, and academic growth. Participating were 22 third graders and 53 middle school students in two growing middle class communities in north central Illinois. Inadequate student motivation was documented through data on attendance, student…

This booklet summarizes data on the persistence and attainment outcomes of students in postsecondary education and the enrollment factors related to these outcomes. The primary data describe students, as of 1994, who began their postsecondary education in the 1989-90 academic year. Additional data describe postsecondary education experiences of…

This study was conducted in order to reveal the nature of community college life at City College of San Francisco (CCSF) and investigate the transfer process through the "eyes" of CCSF students. Interviews were conducted on approximately 30 faculty, 15 administrators, and 60 students to discover the motivations behind decisions to…

The labor market outcomes of non-college-bound high school graduates were examined by analyzing the 1980 High School and Beyond Fourth Follow-up Survey, which contains information on more than 14,000 former high school students who were interviewed in 1980 as sophomores and again in 1982, 1984, 1986, and 1992. The study concentrated on respondents…

The outcomes and implementation of career academy programs in California were examined in a study of one school district's efforts to implement a uniform career academy model in 1990-1996. A cohort of approximately 10,000 students who were sophomores in the district's comprehensive high schools between 1990 and 1993 were followed through high…

In this study, special education teachers identified students with learning disabilities who were working on math skills usually taught two grades below the grade in which the student was enrolled. Each student (n=33) took two levels of the MAT/7 math computation test, an on-grade test, and an out-of-level test intended for students two grades…