Discusses conceptual and methodological issues surrounding the application of cost-benefit analysis to education and presents two examples of how to calculate the cost-benefit ratio of educational investments. (JG)

The question examined is how can truly liberal education be justified economically? The author maintains that it is eminently practical, since no other course of study can teach free minds how to learn, to question, and therefore to give reasoned advice. (Editor/LBH)

In response to legislation passed by the 1989 North Carolina General Assembly, the State Board of Education developed and initially implemented End-of-Grade Tests (EOG) for grades 3 through 8 in the areas of reading and mathematics effective with the 1992?93 school year. These curriculum-based multiple-choice achievement tests are specifically…

This document examines the Lousiana School and District Accountability system. There are five key facets to the system: (1)challenging curriculum and content standard; (2) assessment program; (3) school and district performance monitoring and reporting; (4)assistance to low performing schools and districts; and (5) recognition and rewards. Each…

The passage of the Children First Act in 1988 ushered in a new era of data collection, analysis, and reporting about the overall quality and condition of education in Louisiana. Implemented in 1990, this major piece of legislation resulted in the publication of the Progress Profiles (School Report Cards, District Composite Report, and the…

Up to six years of data (the current year and the five previous years where available) are presented in Louisiana's District Composite Reports. Each year, this report is updated by adding the most current year?s data and deleting the data that are more than six years old. Incorporating longitudinal data in the District Composite Report enables…

Nebraska's approach to standards, assessment, and accountability: School-based Teacher-led Assessment and Reporting System (STARS) is firmly grounded in the belief that decisions about student learning should be standards-based and should be based upon classroom knowledge of the student. This process relies upon the professional expertise of…

This annual report focuses on three goals. First, the report is congruent with the "No Child Left Behind Act" (NCLB). This means that the annual report focuses on results and accountability throughout the text. The second goal is to make the report more useful to Congress, parents, each state, and other stakeholders. This report…

What follows in this report is a comprehensive Five-Year Action Plan that, when implemented, will put Baltimore City on the road to making real and measurable gains in the school readiness of its youngest children, from birth to age five. The purpose in developing this plan is to identify the specific strategies and their associated action …

Since 1988, more than half of all states have passed laws that allow state authorities to take control of local school districts under certain circumstances. As of 2004, 54 cases of state takeovers had been reported nationwide--most of them in urban and rural districts. The most commonly cited causes are financial and management problems; academic…

This annual report highlights information on school performance and improvement in Hawaii's public schools. The report profiles noteworthy academic events, trends, and outcomes at two organizational levels: state and complex. Featured are tables, figures and narrative sections related to demographic, financial, and educational performance. Also,…

Under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), public school students throughout the country must participate in annual testing in specific academic areas and grades outlined in the law, including students with disabilities. Requiring the inclusion of all students with disabilities in state- and district-wide assessments helps ensure that schools,…

This brief report summarizes how American education has drifted into the accountability systems now in use, either under individual state laws or as mandated by the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. The report describes how slip-sliding into the current accountability requirements has resulted in a system so flawed that it fails in its…

The Hancock school finance case put the adequacy doctrine to its strictest test yet, to see if even a national educational leader such as Massachusetts could be found in constitutional violation. The doctrine failed this test, as the court found in favor of the defendants due to the vigorous reform program since 1993. The court credited the…

This study addresses three questions: First, considering the full group of students and the special education subgroup, what is the likely effect of minimum cell size and confidence interval size on school-level Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) determinations? Second, what effects do the changing minimum cell sizes have on inclusion of special…