This document is the final performance report for a Field Initiated Studies (FIS) project that addressed the need for a better assessment of public library services for adult lifelong learning in majority-minority and lower income library market areas. After stating the major educational problem addressed by the FIS project, the report lists the…

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…

This paper examines the complexities surrounding teacher evaluation in general, and the evaluation of preservice teacher educators affiliated with a university teacher education program in particular. It focuses on the purposes of evaluation, whether those purposes are complementary or in conflict with one another, how the evaluation is related to…

This evaluation examines the impact of the first 6 to 7 months of the Washington Scholarship Fund (WSF) programs on students in grades 2-8 who had previously been attending public school, but had changed to private ones. More than 6,000 students had applied by lottery to a WSF school voucher program. The evaluation estimates the program's impact…

To comfort, educate, enlighten, and even entertain are some words used to describe the role of a minister, but how to determine a minister's effectiveness is a complicated task. The literature on what constitutes an effective minister can be described by four broad categories: the minister's personality, motivations and personal preferences,…

This study sought to determine the differences between perceptions of school superintendents and school board presidents in Louisiana public school districts on the criterion variable of superintendent competencies needed for continued employment in the superintendency. It sought as well to determine if these differences are related to the…

This is the final report in the New Zealand Council for Educational Research's series of national surveys monitoring the impact of the "Tomorrow's Schools" reforms, which began in 1989. These reforms shifted substantial financial and administrative responsibilities from the former Department of Education and Education Boards to staff and…

This study examined teacher leadership behavior in the high school mathematics classroom according to Kouzes and Posner's conceptual framework of credible, exemplary leadership. Data were gathered from 13 mathematics teachers, and 445 high school mathematics students from two suburban high schools. This study found that students did not perceive…

This study of exemplary university teachers sought to identify their thinking and knowledge about effective teaching dimensions and strategies, the effective strategies that they actually used in class, and the relationships between their thinking and knowledge about effective teaching strategies and their actual use of these strategies. Two…

Taking a post-modern approach, this paper addresses the relevance of measurement and evaluation of libraries and information services. The following topics are discussed: (1) past and present approaches to performance measurement, including origins of measurement and landmarks of the past; (2) a conceptual framework for evaluation, including a…

The Parent Leadership Program team that created and facilitated a Local Liaison Learning Group between September 1998 and November 1999 gathered in mid-January 2000 to discuss what they had learned. The Learning Group was thought of by the Parent Leadership Program team as an applied research setting for investigating the conditions that support…

This report is part of a series of reports designed to document innovative daytime and supported living practices. It is based on a site visit to Katahdin Friends, Inc. (KFI) in March 1998. Since the mid-1980s, KFI, located in Millinocket, Maine, has transformed its supports for people with developmental disabilities from those that promote…

Although support for using portfolios in student assessment is widespread, few educators agree on what portfolios are and what their purposes should be. This book details a step-by-step process to help preschool and elementary educators get started in the use of portfolios for student assessment or gain new insights or strategies in their use.…

As part of a research project being conducted to determine the impact that the Maryland Learning Outcomes and the Maryland State Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) are having on classroom instruction and assessment practices, science classroom materials were collected from elementary and middle schools in Maryland during the 1997-1998 school…

The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is one of the most comprehensive international studies of schooling and students' achievement in science and mathematics. TIMSS was originally conducted in 1995. Four years later in 1999, the Third International Mathematics and Science Study-Repeat (TIMSS-R) was conducted. This document…