This paper describes the Partnerships for Student Success study, which will not evaluate programs or polices, but will seek to identify and examine the aspects of inter-level governance and related state policies that contribute to, or detract from, effective and coherent connections between schools and colleges. Partnerships for Student Success…

The Distance Learning Policy Laboratory of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) and many states and regional organizations are coming to a consensus on the principles and goals that should shape distance learning policies. In the case of quality assurance, the SREB believes there are four guiding principles that states should follow.…

This primer is designed to help charter school leaders in Ohio in coordinating testing and test data reporting procedures as required by state and federal guidelines. The report discusses the roles and responsibilities of charter schools under Ohio's new accountability system and what charter schools need to know to administer the tests of the…

Colorado Senate Bill 00-71 and S.B. 00-124 established the Read-to-Achieve Grant Program. The purpose of the program is to solicit proposals from any elementary school, including a charter school, or consortium of schools, to fund research-based intensive reading programs. The funding opportunity was designed specifically for second and third…

This study focused on how school district leaders in Connecticut are translating educational reform policies into instructional practice. It explored how school improvement initiatives were being implemented to improve student performance on the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) and examined the ways in which these initiatives were…

The Montana Certification Program offers librarians, library staff members, and trustees a systematic and progressive method by which to track their continuing education (CE) efforts; the program also offers library boards and managers an opportunity to recognize staff efforts to improve their skills, ability, and knowledge. This first section of…

This document details a strategy to bring together state and community leaders in the southeastern United States to establish dialogue, set priorities, and make system-wide changes for supporting literacy for the youngest children and their families. The Head, Heart, and Hands campaign has three focal points: (1) Head--understanding research and…

The Family to Family initiative has encouraged states to reconceptualize, redesign, and reconstruct their foster care systems. By 1996, the initiative was being implemented in five states, five Georgia counties, and Los Angeles County, California. The first objective of this initiative is to develop a network of family foster care that is more…

In September 1984, the New Jersey Board of Education launched the Provisional Teacher Program, the first alternative teacher certification program in the United States. The program, or the "alternate route," came from a reform process initiated after a commission created by the legislature concluded that New Jersey's teacher preparation…

This brief provides a snapshot of the types and scale of expansions that states have adopted in the early implementation phase of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), a program to expand health coverage for low-income children up to age 19. In addition, the brief examines how coverage expansions vary in relation to state…

This report represents one component of a project to examine how recently or whether enacted federal education reforms, put into place through the reauthorization of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (Improving America's Schools Act of 1994), are being implemented in high poverty schools. The first part of the report…

The Alabama Public Library Service (APLS) is charged with improving library services throughout the state to ensure that all citizens have access to quality library and information services. Part of this charge includes the responsibility for receiving and administering federal funds to the more than 200 public libraries in Alabama. Federal…

This paper describes the experiences of Colorado Springs School District Eleven in using multiple measures to determine if third graders were reading at "grade level." The use of multiple measures may be threatened by the rapidly increasing pressures about assessment and accountability in Colorado that teachers are beginning to feel that…

The progress of students and schools in California is examined by reviewing the state's recent test history and the state's progress in creating a sound, standards-based assessment system. The story about California is mixed. Overall performance on the Stanford Achievement Test, ninth edition (SAT-9) shows that the state average, overall grades…

This report responds to a Minnesota legislative requirement that required the Commissioner, with the advice of the Medical Education and Research Costs (MERC) Advisory Committee, to "develop a system to recognize those teaching programs which serve higher numbers or high proportions of public program recipients and...report to the legislative…