In the knowledge-based economy that characterizes the 21st century, most previously industrialized countries are making massive investments in education. The United States ranks poorly on many leading indicators, however, primarily because of the great inequality in educational inputs and outcomes between White students and non-Asian…

America's secondary schools are failing far too many of their students. Policymakers and members of the education community generally agree that the problems in America's high schools have reached crisis proportions in recent years. Transforming schools and educating all students well requires thoughtful, coordinated, systemic change. To ensure…

Education Resource Strategies (ERS) works with school and district leaders to help them more strategically use resources--people, time, and money--to improve student performance. They have found that many school districts begin creating small high schools without a clear sense of how much they will spend or how to ensure that small schools…

This report is one of nine detailed case studies of small urban high schools that served as the foundation for the Education Resource Strategies (ERS) report "Strategic Designs: Lessons from Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools." These nine schools were dubbed "Leading Edge Schools" because they stand apart from other high…

This appendix accompanies "Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades: Why Some Schools Do Better. A Large-Scale Study of Middle Grades Practices and Student Outcomes. Initial Research Report." This appendix focuses on the findings and domain comparisons of the study. This appendix contains the following: (1) Decision Rules; (2) Full Set of…

This study looked at 1992 high school seniors to see how many of them would have met the new National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Proposition 16 eligibility requirements for freshman participation in Division I college varsity sports. The new, stricter requirements are based on a combination of the high school grade point average in…

Neither teacher-made tests nor the Scholastic Aptitude Test are appropriate for measuring the attainment of national education goals. Most practitioners involved in discussions of national high-stakes examinations argue that new tests are needed. A new system that preserves state and local autonomy in education as it measures the attainment of…

In Canada today there is a clear move toward a more outcomes-based education system. This report examines the state of high school student assessment and reviews standards and accountability strategies. It reports on the policies, programs, and initiatives in all provincial ministries or departments of education and a sample of school boards…

In 1993, the Oregon Legislature funded six curriculum development projects to design frameworks for integrating academic content with technical skills, work behaviors, sample teaching activities, and assessment strategies appropriate to the state's Certificates of Advanced Mastery (CAMs). This report describes results for the six projects as of…

In an effort to meet all federal, state, and accreditation requirements, as well as accountability demands from business and industry, Iowa's Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) developed a 3-year faculty-driven process to develop a plan for assessing student outcomes. The first step in the process was the formation of a 22-member faculty…

In 1995 the Virginia Board of Education adopted new Standards of Learning in four core subject areas: mathematics, science, English, and history and social science. The new standards set targets and expectations for what teachers need to teach and students need to learn. The requirement is designed to provide greater accountability on the part of…

The purpose of this paper is to inform novice science teachers and science teacher educators of the pedagogy that science teacher supervisors value. As expert practitioners, supervisors have a perspective quite different from that of both novice teachers and teacher educators. Nine inservice science teacher supervisors assessed a novice teacher's…

This report on gifted education is based on surveys returned by central education agencies in 47 states and Guam. The report contains informational charts which provide a broad overview of state level services for gifted students. An analysis of the data follows every chart. Included are data on: state mandates and regulations on gifted education;…

This report details results of a Maryland statewide survey of remedial education at public colleges and universities for students enrolled in the 1994-95 academic year. The study included an examination of the number and type of students who required remediation, the policies and standards used to determine student placement, the success of…

This document consists of four papers presented during a symposium on human resource development (HRD) journals moderated by Peter W.J. Schramade at the 1996 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development. "Refereed Journals: The Cornerstone of a Developing Profession" (Gary N. McLean) describes the purpose, format, success, and…