This analysis is designed to provide Health, Education and Welfare and local school officials with a more objective and uniform assessment of desegregation problems in specific districts in the United States. To carry out the study, Lambda Corporation designed and implemented an analysis procedure for systematically assigning students to schools.…

According to a national study, many recent policy changes in American higher education have not only failed to enhance educational programs but have contributed to their deterioration. Focus is on the expansion of the public sector, the shift toward larger institutions, the eclipse of single-sex colleges, public community colleges, deemphasis on…

This paper reanalyzed the Youth in Transition data, supported the generality of the earlier Marsh and Parker (EJ) findings, and demonstrated new theoretical implications of the big-fish-little-pond effect. (Author/LMO)

Social factors such as school context and school transition which affect adolescence are reviewed. Multiple, simultaneous, and earlier transitions that do not provide an arena of comfort for the adolescent appear to create more problems. More understanding of the proximal and distal effects of these transitions is needed. (NH)

Surveys effect of enrollment size on 117 teachers and 892 middle and junior high school students in Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. Finds middle school teachers prefer small schools, junior high teachers prefer larger schools, and middle school students' self concept may increase with enrollment size. Analyzes school organizational structures. (LFL)

Criticizes the Illinois State Board of Education's study of the effects of school district size on student achievement as a piece of research upon which to base educational policy decisions. Points out specific weaknesses in the research. (FL)

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) New Report Offers Recommendations for Defining and Improving Graduation Rates: Calls for New Federal Funding Stream…

The No Child Left Behind Act requires standards-based accountability for school districts and schools receiving Title I funds. A major component of this policy is to report whether districts and schools are making "adequate yearly progress" (AYP) based on their performance goals. This paper raises questions for rural schools using the…

This digest reviews research on the status of rural student achievement and schooling conditions and describes variations across the nation and the states. Between 1992 and 1996, rural students began to outperform nonrural students on the 8th-grade mathematics assessment of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Despite this aggregate…

This position paper focuses on issues related to equal education in small, rural schools in Sweden. Specifically, the report analyzes national statistics, reports from the National Agency for Education, and other research regarding the status of education in Sweden. Data indicate that for the 1994-95 school year, two-thirds of the schools in…

This book uses data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) to examine whether students who attend restructured high schools learn more and have access to a more equal education. The NELS:88 examined the educational status and progress of a large, nationally representative sample of 8th grade students, retesting and…

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…

Noting that bullying among primary school-age children has become recognized as an antecedent to more violent behavior in later grades, the 3-year Maine Project Against Bullying examined currently available research on bullying and evaluated books, curricula, media materials, and programs to identify resources and strategies which can be applied…

Since the approval of the No Child Left Behind Act, there have been new ways of evaluating student success. Evaluation is based on progress or improvement, not only on achievement. This report describes a study that examined student progress, or sustained improvement, in California over a 2-year period (1999-2000). In analyzing sustained…

The Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), offers the most comprehensive picture available of the education system in the United States. The aim of this study is to show the potential value of a linkage between SASS and data on student academic achievement. To achieve this aim, the…