This paper reports the results of a large-scale portfolio pilot in which over 2,000 secondary students submitted portfolios in language arts, mathematics, and science classes. Students were asked to select work for their portfolios based on the criteria that would be used to evaluate the work. Students also reflected on how their work satisfied…

The productivity of the U.S. work force is a primary determinant of the standard of living of the U.S. population. Worker productivity is affected by many factors, including the education and skills of the work force. This handbook highlights several measures of productivity and education, and addresses the link between these two sets of measures.…

Most of the industrialized world retains an obsolete, tracked, multitiered public education system that prepares some children for university and others for blue-collar jobs. This educational design neglects changes in technology, family structure, and community life, and its bureaucratized management values uniformity and process over initiative…

Although charter schools have provoked much interest, there has not been a systematic nationwide effort to ask the clients and teachers of charter schools what they think about them. During the 1996-97 school year, Hudson Institute's Charter Schools in Action Project gathered quantitative data that describe 50 charter schools enrolling…

The research question addressed in this paper concerns the degree to which teachers use authentic pedagogy, i.e., teaching strategies that foster authentic learning. Three questionnaires were developed, covering four characteristics of authentic pedagogy: (1) the construction of knowledge in complete task environments; (2) the connection to the…

A large school district conducting a revision of its curriculum-based assessment program for grades one through six introduced performance assessments in response to a demand for more authentic assessment associated with national concerns for standards-based educational reform. This study reports validity evidence for the locally developed reading…

This publication shows step-by-step how trainers may use self-organized learning (SOL) to achieve real and lasting change within an organization at all levels. Each of the eight chapters begins with an "agenda board" outlining the contents and ends with a section featuring suggested activities for developing the skills. An introduction…

This study addressed research collaboration on a range of instructional and administrative issues concerning how best to serve the educational needs of students with disabilities or at risk in general education classrooms. A group of expert researchers (N=31), funded to conduct research on the General Education Initiative (GEI), was interviewed to…

Assessing the impact of participation in school-to-work systems on student performance allows practitioners to determine whether their system is providing young people with the skills required for academic and lifelong success. School-to-work assessment systems focus on three key areas: academic, broad workplace, and specific occupational skills.…

A study examined the construct of "perceived caring" in the instructional context which is believed to be related to the classical construct of "good will" in Aristotelian rhetorical theory as well as more contemporary social scientific views of "intent toward receiver" in conceptualizations of source credibility. The…

During the early 1990s, the Hartford, Connecticut, public school system experienced serious financial problems and a downward trend in the key indicators of educational success. In 1994 the Hartford, Connecticut, board of education granted Education Alternatives, Incorporated (EAI), a 5-year contract to manage the school district. This paper…

The Cognitive Science Laboratory of the University of Southern California has conducted a series of studies on the experimental effects of motivation on a low-stakes (to the student) standardized test. This report summarizes these studies and their results. The test in question is the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). A series of…

This packet consists of explanatory materials on the Missouri Marketing Education Competency Profile and related information. Section 1 describes the mission of marketing education, marketing occupations, curriculum framework, and curriculum alignment for the 1996 profile. Section 2 addresses 1996 revisions to the Missouri Marketing Education Core…

In August 1996 Jay P. Greene, Paul E. Peterson, and Jiangtao Du, with Leesa Boeger and Curtis L. Frazier, issued a report called "The Effectiveness of School Choice in Milwaukee." The report, referred to as GPDBF, presented data that indicated that low-income minority students in their third and fourth years of participation in the…

This study was conducted to determine the degree to which children's perceived self-esteem is related to their overall academic achievement as measured by their performance on a standardized achievement test battery. Specifically, the study sought to determine the dimensions of perceived self-esteem that would be most clearly associated with…