The article reports on 2 Minnesota Educational Effectiveness Project studies on the relationship between school effectiveness variables and attitudes/achievement of 2,604 students in general and 758 students with mild disabilities. Results did not support the idea that general efforts at school improvement will lead to improved outcomes for…

Examines the role of training for improving the performance of people in ways that both they and their organizations value, focusing on what the true worth of training is and can be. Proposes a model for calculating return-on-investment (ROI) in training. Presents a case study of its application within an operational context at a bank. (Contains…

Describes two historical changes that enlarged and reorganized higher learning--the reading-writing revolution in Socrates' time and the campus revolution two thousand years later. Highlights the signs of the third revolution of improvement in access and quality. Discusses access proposals that can also improve quality and quality proposals that…

This chapter extends the discussion of the Baldrige framework in the preceding chapter by highlighting the eleven lessons learned from Baldrige best-practice organizations. (Contains 6 notes.)

This article explores the central role that description of experience, on the part of both teacher and students, plays in reflective practice. In particular, it highlights the power of students' description of their own learning as revealed to teachers in dialogue, a process I call "descriptive feedback." Descriptive feedback is neither…

This article describes a 34-week pilot project aimed at improving health care service delivery for adolescents by offering youth a distinct role as advisory board members who help shape policy, provide feedback, guidance, and direction to a school-based health center (SBHC) program in Boston. Freshmen were recruited to participate in a Youth…

What are the characteristics of professional development that improve teaching practice? This report addresses this question, using data from the National Evaluation of the Eisenhower Professional Development Program. The Eisenhower program is part of the federal government's efforts to support education reform based on high standards. The success…

This article focuses on data-based decision making at the school level and provides guidelines for principals. Necessary prior conditions, methods for developing a data-oriented culture, and expected outcomes are discussed. By using data, administrators can analyze programmatic decisions and promote empowerment of staff.

Pre-K Now was created as a part of a major grant-making strategy of The Pew Charitable Trusts to assist national and state leaders to design and implement sound, research-based policies that support voluntary access to high-quality pre-K for all three- and four-year-old children in the United States. Pre-K Now's vision is a nation in which every…

The No Child Left Behind legislation has drawn a great deal of attention to the gap' that exists between the academic performance of Black and Hispanic students as compared to their White counterparts. While numerous reform efforts have been implemented to address this disparity, to date little research has been done to connect a teacher's sense…

The research involved an action plan for the improvement of the quality of the Distance Education Institute of Eastern Mediterranean University and based on EUA norms. This research is part of a work based learning process to enhance the contribution of online pedagogy and teaching process for online tutors. The research aimed to stress the…

The case study discussed in this article investigated how the district leadership team of one high-performing school district utilized the Baldrige model to implement a system of continuous improvement. Data sources included the district's Baldrige application and feedback report, interviews of the district leadership team, focus group interviews…

In this paper, we follow up the important class size reduction randomized experiment in Tennessee in the mid 1980s (Project STAR) to attempt to further understand the long-lasting influences of early education interventions. While STAR led to large test score benefits during the intervention, these benefits quickly faded at its conclusion.…

Purdue University recently received $1.2M in funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the development of educational programs for high school teachers, high school counselors, and high school students. The purpose of these intervention programs is to show that women (and men) can have interesting, useful, and society-impacting…

The Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI) is a bold approach to improving student learning by encouraging teachers, parents, and the community to work collaboratively to introduce innovative projects that address local needs. Initiated in 1999 by the Alberta Government and its partners, AISI provides targeted funding to school…