Since the development of the Educational Technology Plan PK-12 in 1996, the state of Wisconsin has made great strides to ensure that the technologies necessary for fostering student growth and achievement are available to urban, suburban, and rural children alike. This addendum, intended to supplement the 1996 plan, will provide Wisconsin's school…

This document presents the proceedings of the sixth National Monitoring Conference concerned with implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Introductory material describes the purpose and background of the document and the federal monitoring of states, including the Continuous Improvement Monitoring Process (CIMP) and…

The consequences of large state testing are often uniformity of expectations for achievement. The largest impact of higher standards, then, are realized by traditionally disenfranchised student populations, particularly the least affluent who are most likely to bear the yoke of low expectation. This paper advances S. Messick's (1981) fundamental…

The New York State Council on Children and Families is charged with acting as a neutral body to coordinate the 13 health, education, and human services agencies within the state to promote children and families' well-being. The Council uses the Touchstone accountability framework to facilitate the development of state and local service systems…

This report synthesizes information from public record documents and comments from Early/Head Start program directors and activities from the Illinois Head Start Collaboration Office. Data were obtained from more than 101 mail survey responses from early childhood providers, 38 phone narrative/anecdotal surveys, more than 50 telephone surveys, and…

This brochure describes PreK-12 technology education in Wisconsin. The first section briefly summarizes Wisconsin's state content standards in the areas of nature of technology, systems, human ingenuity, and impact of technology. The second section covers technology education program scope and sequences for grades PreK-4 (early technology…

The Delaware Student Testing Program (DSTP) is designed to assess progress toward the Delaware Content Standards. Every year a certain number of items are removed from the test and then selected for public release. This booklet contains items released from the 1998 administration of the DSTP mathematics component tests. Taken as a whole, these…

This guide contains information to help teachers understand and use reports from the Delaware Student Testing Program (DSTP). The DSTP is designed to be a measure of progress toward Delaware's content standards that helps ensure that students can apply their academic skills to realistic, everyday problems. The DSTP aims to promote better…

This study investigated the possible impacts of language and curriculum differences on the performance of test items by subpopulations of students. Focusing on Measurement and Geometry items completed by students in French- and English-language schools in Ontario made it possible to explore the differences and to compare the item response theory…

The Florida State Legislature and the Department of Education have generally addressed the 1997 recommendations of the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) for improving student performance in high-poverty schools. Recent legislation and department actions have established a stronger foundation for ensuring that…

Kentucky has been implementing test-based accountability for almost a decade, making it a good site for studying the effects of the milepost testing model. In 1996, a study was undertaken of the impact of standards-based assessment on classroom practices in Kentucky. Kentucky teachers (n=365) were surveyed about their classroom practices and other…

This report explores changes in school policies and practices resulting from an externally mandated, high-stakes testing program. It is based on a study that investigated one Minnesota school district's transformation following the passage of a 1993 law mandating a results-oriented graduation rule. The paper outlines the role of testing programs…

Louisiana's initiative to assist local communities to develop and operate school-based health centers (SBHCs)is a nationally recognized model. This report details a year of significant service expansion to Louisiana's school children and a renewed commitment to meeting the health care needs of more students in years to come. Section 1 of the…

In 1998, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation reviewed state academic standards in English language arts/reading, history, geography, mathematics, and science--the five essential subjects identified at the 1998 "education summit." Because many states have changed their standards in the past 2 years, the Foundation has evaluated them again. The news is…

The New York City Board of Education has implemented a school quality review system called Performance Assessment in Schools Systemwide: Essential Elements of Exemplary Schools (PASS). The PASS process provides a set of standards of exemplary educational practice and a model for assessing schools in relation to these standards. The process is…