Examines educational decentralization efforts in developed and developing countries. Explores which conditions produce best results and roles and relationships of the school/community and region/center. Summarizes typical reasons for school-based management's failure, highlighting schools' need to build capacity, maintain decentralization, and…

Past payment by results schemes have failed miserably. Britain's modified 150-year-old system was disdained by teachers, school managers, and inspectors; schools became learning-impoverished environments with test-driven curricula. In modern-day America, accountability concerns and mistrust are corrupting or crippling genuine improvement efforts.…

Examines three student accountability measures (standardized tests, performance-based assessment, and structural assessment) through two different theoretical perspectives: structural functionalism and feminist poststructuralism. Educators can use various kinds of assessments in ways that maintain the status quo or support equity and justice for…

Defends the significant increases seen in Texas student achievement during the 1990s, addressing attacks on the validity of these improvements. Supports the governor's emphasis on accountability testing because of its positive results, concluding that the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills holds students and schools accountable and provides…

Describes situated cognition, Vygotskian thought, the Zone of Proximal Development, and learning from the community of practice perspective. Conceptualizes learning principles for instructional design of Web-based electronic learning environments, including situatedness, commonality, interdependency, and infrastructure that includes…

Describes some key policy dilemmas and challenges taking place in the U.S. academic profession. These issues derive from a complex array of demographic, economic, social, and technological developments that have caused major shifts in the areas of assessment and accountability, governance, power, faculty roles, and recruitment patterns. (SLD)

Addresses issues faced by institutions attempting to design school profiles to meet accountability standards. Reports of high-stakes test results can be skewed by choice of statistic type (percent of students passing versus mean scores), sample bias, geographical transients, and omission errors. Administrators must look beyond "common…

Discusses three purposes of tests and assessments in educational performance evaluation: providing information for the purpose of accounting to people outside of schools; providing information to teachers to help them improve instruction; and helping students learn. Also addressed are problems of test bias and the need to coordinate testing with…

Describes how an institution seeking to improve its course quality can conduct a collective self-evaluation based on an internally designed checklist. The article maintains that this self-evaluation may be used to prepare for an external inspection or built into the institution's on-going program of staff development. (nine references) (Author/CK)

Critical issues addressed in the literature with regard to teacher evaluation, appraisal instruments, and their use are reviewed. The focus of the study is to provide ideas and suggestions on improving the evaluation process, something best achieved by matching the appropriate instrument with that which it purports to measure. (SLD)

Reviews literature on resource allocation in schools, arguing that collecting data at the student level (rather than at the school level) can be more cost-effective and more useful in improving understanding of student learning. Discusses four school finance areas that would benefit from student-level data: equity, adequacy, accountability, and…

To measure returns on taxpayer investments, two distinct evaluation levels are needed: a publicly accessible system that provides data and analytical conclusions for a state's school districts and charter schools; and an indepth assessment of individual school districts or sites. Standard & Poor's School Evaluation Services framework looks…

Discusses the 2000 Community College Futures Assembly held in Orlando, Florida, which more than 300 community college presidents and other decision-makers attended. During an activity, participants identified 107 critical issues facing institutions, the top three of which were: (1) finding funds for workforce development; (2) using outcome…

Examines intended and unintended results of the charter school movement, addressing both sides of the debate and explaining that increased autonomy can heighten inequalities, and choice can sometimes exclude certain members of society. Discusses: autonomy for accountability; autonomy for efficiency; competition; innovation; and choice. Notes that…

Examines emerging trends in teacher education, focusing on accountability, alternatives, and demand. Discusses high stakes testing for teachers, the impact of teacher quality on student learning, alternative teacher certification, the role of community colleges in teacher preparation, and the true nature of the much-publicized teacher shortage.…