This guide for adults who are seeking external degrees offers guidance for selecting such a program and a listing of 140 accredited programs. The five chapters of part 1 provide an introduction to external degree opportunities. Chapter 1 briefly considers the multiple ways in which today's adults can continue their education. Chapter 2 explains…

This bulletin focuses on the connection between student performance and standards that has led to reform efforts designed to set high standards and develop new ways to measure student performance. It provides an overview of national, state, and local efforts to develop standards. The bulletin then discusses these practitioner-identified approaches…

This report contains data from "The Condition of Education 1996" on issues that are central to the process of work preparation: course-taking patterns among high school and postsecondary students, student experience as it relates to preparation for entry into the labor force, and adult involvement in education and training while employed. Some of…

The evolution of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) and certification process is traced. The challenges posed by combining, for certification purposes, the scores from internal and external assessments of school candidates are discussed in the face of the low reliability of teachers'…

This study mapped the correspondence between indicators included in "Educational Outcomes and Indicators for Students Completing School," developed by the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO), and indicators included in national data collection programs. These data collection programs included such efforts as the National…

This study examined higher education institutions' compliance with Standard IIB, Criterion #35 of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), which focuses on arrangements the teacher education program has made with school districts to provide assistance to its graduates who are first year teachers. Data were obtained from…

This article offers four explanations of why outcome-based education (OBE) has proven to be so controversial. First, OBE requires consideration of the central purposes of compulsory public education, on which there is sharp philosophical disagreement, and the outcome-defining process involves input from many groups with many different…

Intended as a forum for the discussion of postsecondary accreditation, this book addresses pragmatic issues such as constituent satisfaction, cost, and redundant efforts, as well as such strategic concerns as accreditation's potential to provide leadership in the areas of transfer, articulation, and general education. The following 10 chapters are…

The New York University Symposium on Urban Community Colleges examined the distinctions between urban and non-urban community colleges, the role of urban community colleges in linking high schools and universities and in promoting local economic development, and methods of identifying and developing leaders for these institutions. No definitive…

Findings of a study that sought to determine teachers' and principals' perceptions concerning state-mandated testing are presented in this paper. Data were gathered through interviews with 30 fifth- and sixth-grade teachers and 12 principals in 3 states--Tennessee, Illinois, and New York--where statewide testing has been implemented for 30 years,…

This book, which is for K-12 teachers, teacher educators, administrators, and staff developers, explores concept-based learning. Chapter 1, "Interpreting and Aligning National, State, and Local Standards," reviews the national content standards through a set of concept-based questions to highlight the differences between concept-based and…

This speech by U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley discusses how education is improving as the country moves into the 21st century. Section 1 sums up the United States' history of giving millions of Americans the education so long denied to them (immigrants, minorities, individuals with disabilities, and women). Section 2 examines a new…

As part of the school reform legislation of 1985, the Illinois State Board of Education established State Goals for Learning in six fundamental learning areas: language arts, mathematics, science, social science, fine arts, and physical development and health. The next step is to develop standards that will more clearly define the knowledge and…

This supplement to the national physical education standards aims to provide teachers of American Indian students with strategies and ideas for culture-based physical education. Traditional teachings have long recognized that the "whole" person must be considered when addressing issues of health, fitness, and general well-being. Among…

This paper describes the processes that one school district, the Visalia Unified School District (California), went through in establishing a standards-based assessment and accountability system using multiple methods. First the district's standards-based assessment and accountability system and the methods used to establish it are described, and…