This document consists of all 44 issues of this brief newsletter issued from its inception September 1, 1991 through its final issue, January 11, 1993. This newsletter provides information and support to groups in the AMERICA 2000 program (i.e., a program in which local groups encourage the adoption of the six National Education Goals, develop a…

Current research on school effectiveness concludes that differences among schools affect students' academic achievement. An important characteristic of effective schools is providing a safe and secure environment. An example of programs that address this issue are peer mediation or conflict resolution programs. These programs require the combined…

A literature review examines research and reports on school and school district size as they relate to educational quality and finance. Sections cover: (1) research on the relationships of size to course offerings, teacher qualifications, student achievement, student behavior, student participation, and school climate; (2) state level reports…

Almost a third of all schools in Australia responded to an invitation to express views about how Australia's schools might be made more effective. This report presents the views that schools should have a full-blown view of what Australia wants for its children and youth, and they should be concerned with personal and social as well as…

Over the past 10 years, there has been an increasing demand for educational institutions to demonstrate greater accountability for students' learning. Those working in post-secondary institutions initially felt that this did not apply to them, but, with the public perception of elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education as one system,…

Providing an overview of the educational and fiscal accountability system for community colleges in the state of California, this paper discusses the development of the system and describes the role of the Chancellor's Office (CO) of the California Community Colleges in accountability. Following a review of state and federal programs that include…

In the mid 1990s, the National Center on Educational Outcomes worked with stakeholder groups to establish a set of criteria for use in large-scale assessments. The criteria addressed issues of the participation of students with disabilities in the assessments, assessment accommodations, and the reporting of results for students with disabilities.…

A hearing was held before the Subcommittee on Empowerment of the House Committee on Small Business to build a record of a lot of things that are working in urban education in high risk zones. In his opening remarks, Representative Souder (Indiana) noted that there is no question but that the best way to combat unemployment and the problems that…

During the 1990-91 academic year, Frederick Community College (FCC) in Maryland conducted a major research project to help determine the extent and effectiveness of the college's transfer function. In the study's first phase, a Transfer Tracking System (TTS) was developed by conducting a detailed audit of all transcript requests from FCC students.…

This study finds that the New York City version of school-based decision making, School-Based Management/Shared Decision Making (SBM/SDM), fails to bring school-based management or shared decision making to the schools. This report begins by describing the seriously dysfunctional structure of the New York City public schools and explains the…

According to pioneers in the effective-schools movement, every school can improve educational quality for all its students, including poor and minority children, by incorporating a set of essential, research-identified characteristics present in successful schools. This publication discusses basic elements of the ongoing effective-schools movement…

Examination of almost any university's curricular goals or expectations and the actual courses taken by particular students demonstrates significant discrepancies between the rationale and the actuality and between the intentions of general or specialized education and the knowledge made available in the courses taken. A major reason for the…

The parents' guide in English and Spanish versions, offers a synthesis of the Mid-Continent Regional Educational Laboratory's (McRel) "A+chieving Excellence," a 480-page manual on educational decision-making and management. Four sections examine four broad areas in which policies must be established for improving student achievement--efficiency,…

The Center for Educational Research and Evaluation of the University of North Carolina (Greensboro) has been contracted to propose standards, indicators of quality, data collection procedures, and instruments for the evaluation of Georgia public schools mandated by the state legislature. The development of these standards and indicators is…

The quantitative methods of regression and factor analysis were used to study the equity of educational outcome and the effectiveness of schools in 30 sixth-grade classrooms in western New York State. Equity of educational outcome refers to a situation in which educational achievement is fairly and justly distributed across racial and…