This book focuses on contemporary accreditation, why it matters, and how it can be done effectively. The author covers historical background, getting started, strategies for achieving accreditation, and visions for future academic success, with examples and case studies. Accreditation is the primary way of ensuring the quality of higher education…

A large-scale longitudinal assessment was conducted of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) child care center accreditation process. The assessment focused on the extent to which centers seeking NAEYC accreditation improve in quality, the level of quality and staff stability achieved, and support needed. Classroom…

This paper explores the development of policy to facilitate self-examination by schools. The context is that of Flanders (Belgium), although there are implications for other school systems. In Flanders, more and more schools are becoming autonomous as they are being given some responsibility for providing high quality education, the supervision of…

More parents than ever before are making a conscious decision to be more selective about what their children watch and the types of games they play. This guide lists recommended videos and provides parents with informative guidelines to enable them to make informed program choices. The first part of the guide presents brief reports from the field:…

This report examines how to hold schools accountable for educational quality. Collecting and disseminating school performance data to parents and the public is one accountability measure that school districts can implement. Most states currently produce school report cards or school profiles, which offer important information on their schools.…

This paper critiques current models for evaluation of mental health services provided to children and adolescents with emotional disturbances and offers an alternative model. The most popular model, Donabedian's tripartite model, is described. This model separately evaluates three domains: (1) structure (characteristics of the care providers,…

The identification and recruitment (ID&R) process is an important element in the delivery of migrant services. Federal regulations currently require each state to find eligible migrant children residing within its borders. This chapter discusses essential factors that affect the ID&R of migrant children by educators at the state, regional,…

This report provides an overview of the Department of Education's (ED) progress toward four main goals: (1) help all children reach challenging academic standards; (2) build a solid foundation for learning for all children; (3) ensure access to postsecondary education and lifelong learning; and (4) make ED a high-performance organization. The…

This January 1996 audit report reviews the management of the Economic Development Program by the Chancellor's Office of the California Community Colleges and reviews the funding procedures of the Chancellor's Office and the Department of Education relating to the State Plan for Vocational Education. The state auditor found that the Chancellor's…

This self-study was conducted at Front Range Community College (Colorado) and completed under the provisions of the Colorado 1996 Higher Education Quality Assurance Act. The report is divided into six sections, one for each required accountability indicator: (1) Business Partnerships and Satisfaction; (2) Faculty and Staff Development; (3)…

This report summarizes current knowledge and research on the quality and reliability of death rates by race and Hispanic origin in official mortality statistics of the United States produced by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). It provides a quantitative assessment of bias in death rates by race and Hispanic origin and identifies…

One of the recommendations of the "Adult Literacy and Numeracy in Scotland" report (ALNIS), published in 2001, was that progress against its recommendations should be reviewed at the end of the third year of the national initiative. This HMIE report contributes to that review of progress. The report confirms that the initiative is having…

The degree of control that project directors exert over the technical direction of evaluations and the selection of evaluation staff is examined, and the way in which control has grown and shrunk over the past decade is considered. (Author)

The Houston Plan for Excellence in Education aims to achieve quality in staffing and in education by recruiting and rewarding excellent staff, initiating a competency-based selection process for all school personnel, and providing renewal and professional growth opportunities. (SK)