This report examines the opinions of 726 registered voters in 5 small, rural mid-west school districts. The purposes of the study were: (1) to assess citizens' satisfaction with the school districts' programs and services; (2) to indicate strengths and weaknesses in the school districts' programs and services; (3) to identify problems facing the…

This directory provides information about promising practices, ideas that work, strategies, and resources to improve education for all students in rural schools. The document contains the following articles from the literature: (1) "Motivation: It's Essential to Achievement" (Erling Clausen); (2) "Consolidate, Cooperate, or…

Total Quality (TQ), is a customer-oriented philosophy of management that utilizes total employee involvement in the relentless, daily search for improvement of product and service quality, through the use of statistical methods, employee teams, and performance management. In the TQ framework, "internal" customers are individuals within the…

In response to the criteria of its regional accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Jefferson State Community College (JSCC) developed an institutional effectiveness plan which, while demonstrating accountability, had as its primary goal the improvement of college programs and services. The plan consisted of three…

This packet of seven research-based articles on school improvement summarizes research on educating urban minority youth, discusses discipline and monitoring student progress, and describes four programs for improving elementary school mathematics and reading instruction. "Educating Urban Minority Youth: Research on Effective Practices"…

An overview is provided of Arapahoe Community College's (ACC's) efforts to improve undergraduate education and the success of those efforts. After outlining changes made in the transfer, vocational education, and developmental studies programs, the report identifies new strategies that have been adopted to disseminate information about…

This volume contains short papers and commentaries from a conference on rural education in Iowa. Prefatory notes compare the characteristics of Iowa rural students and rural schools to those of the North Central states in general, and discuss two rural education issues repeatedly identified at the conference--equity of educational opportunities…

A number of sociological research findings on middle class bias of the traditional public school are reviewed. Unless the effective schools research movement expands to include alternative educational research structures in its research efforts, it may fail to find effective schools that are equally effective for both low and middle socioeconomic…

This guide outlines a 3-day program for principals that sensitizes them to equity issues so they can create an educational environment true to the principles of equal education. Objectives are the following: (1) provide participants with an overview of equity concepts and effective schooling research; (2) increase awareness of classroom disparity;…

Studies reviewed in this paper analyze the relationship between School Feeding Programme (SFP) participation and cognitive development in both developing and industralized countries. Contents concern: (1) the relationship betweeen diet and cognitive development; (2) limitations of intelligence quotient tests and the need for more adequate…

The first-year results of a Tennessee college-school partnership program to implement a data-based school improvement change model--the Positive Attitudes in Tennessee Schools Project (PATS)--are summarized in this report. Two major goals of the first year (1989-90) included assessing and improving school climate and enhancing student and teacher…

Research findings from various countries on the role of schools in student development are reviewed, with an eye toward promoting a comparative model for research on the subject. First, research is discussed that indicates that schools have little or no effect relative to students' home background and individual qualities (the 1966 Coleman report…

This report summarizes the findings of three studies conducted by the Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development in San Francisco, California. The first comprised five case studies of school principals. The second synthesized studies on collaborative arrangements for school improvement, and the third is a review of five studies…

This volume summarizes the reports of the following commissions and study groups on secondary school reform: (1) National Commission on Excellence in Education ("A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform"); (2) Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching ("High School: A Report on Secondary Education in America," by Ernest…

Students at 19 Michigan elementary schools in 17 districts showed a dramatic improvement in Michigan Educational Assessment Program test score results from 1976 to 1979. A three-pronged effort to identify the factors associated with the improvement involved a computer analysis of school demographic data, field interviews, and a symposium of 107…