During the 1990s, Virginia implemented statewide Standards of Learning, but several school districts did not have the capacity to meet these new content and performance standards. In 1996, a "high-need" rural Virginia school district was selected as a development site where elements of a technical assistance system to improve student…

The challenges of making rural schools more effective vary with different types of rural conditions. But typically these challenges might include any of the following: teacher shortages, lack of facilities, isolation, HIV/AIDS and related social stigma, war crises and displaced populations, multigrade and shift teaching, administration of small…

This paper reports on a study of reflective practice, which has been a gradual process in education in the Czech Republic. Until the 1990s, most research and development in education and in preservice and inservice teacher education and training had been different from this reflective approach. Instead, quantitative research approaches had been…

Since 1970, essentially all research favors the creation of small high schools. Four forces that have contributed to the growing obsolescence of large, comprehensive high schools are the onset of the information age, the emergence of an adolescent culture, the students' rights movement, and changing attitudes about the proper functioning of…

This series of five booklets has been developed to provide Oregon public school district administrators with suggestions for cost containment and increasing productivity. The five sections focus on the following topics: (1) the problem of declining funds for schools and solution strategies; (2) cost-saving tips for district and school-level…

This institutional effectiveness (IE) report for Trident Technical College (TTC), South Carolina, describes majors and concentrations, academic advisement, and transfer. The 2001-2002 academic year marked the tenth year of Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) for the college. GAS is a systematic means of developing an individual yardstick for assessing…

This status report is the third in a series of annual self-assessments Jefferson College (Missouri) has done in response to the 13 core indicators proposed by the American Association of Community Colleges as those identifying institutional effectiveness. This report explores 7 college missions, which are further subdivided into 13 core…

The 2000 Tidewater Community College (TCC) Graduate Survey Study is a measure of student satisfaction with the college educational experience. The study gives demographic data pertaining to all 2000 graduates, as well as enrollment, attendance, employment, educational, and attitudinal data generated from survey respondents. Highlights of the…

Maintaining that much of the prevailing public discussion and media "hype" surrounding gender issues in education amount to little more than anecdotal rhetoric and opinion, this paper examines evidence for sex differences in the experiences and outcomes of schooling from recent and emerging teacher and school effectiveness research. The paper…

This document is the Tennessee Board of Regents' (TBR's) second annual report card, which details the accomplishments of the state's public higher education institutions in four areas: student learning, academic programs, faculty productivity, and financial accountability. An overall status report is provided for the entire state system, followed…

The term "authorizer" conveys an imposing sense of size and authority, but in the world of charter schools, the authorizer is often a small-scale office or, more commonly, a single employee for whom chartering is just one among many responsibilities amidst a large institution like a state or local board of education, university, or private…

Argues for the adoption of an educationally oriented school desegregation strategy, rather than one based on racial balance. Holds that there is sufficient evidence that all-Black schools can effectively educate, and that courts are more than willing to consider alternative methods of providing "equal educational opportunity." (CMG)

Teachers in this high school "shadowed" selected students to see the school through students' eyes. The teachers noted both strengths and weaknesses. The latter included class interruptions, low expectations of low achievers, and inadequate learning time. (JM)

Extols the virtues of a year-round school schedule and identifies several schools where this practice has contributed to the success of the music program. Briefly discusses such key factors as staffing, budget, curriculum, logical sequence of instruction, and performance scheduling. Includes an example of a year-round schedule. (MJP)

Analyzes first-year retention rates for the 16 colleges of the South Carolina Technical College System, focusing on first-time freshmen enrolling full-time during the fall 1990 and 1991 semesters. Reveals that regional employment and the ratio of instructional and support expenditures per student to regional income per job are the most predictive…