In the U.S.-affiliated Pacific, the U.S. Department of Education (U.S. ED) and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) are responsible for assisting State educational agencies (SEAs) in the development of planning and accountability systems to meet the requirements of the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" (NCLB) requirements and…

School jurisdiction plans and reports align with and build on Alberta Education's vision, mission, goals and outcomes for the basic education system. They help ensure that the entire learning system is focused on key priorities that meet the educational needs of Alberta students. At the same time, jurisdiction plans and reports incorporate local…

This report begins to address the need for research about the structures, policies, and supports that leaders are implementing to address the needs of low-performing schools. It documents findings from a descriptive research study of four states and one large urban district in the Northeast during the formation and early implementation of new…

Between September 2005 and January 2006, Public Education Network (PEN) held a series of public hearings to give students, parents, and community members-audiences very much affected by the law, but usually left out of the policy debate-an opportunity to tell their side of the NCLB story. The hearings serve four purposes: (1) They provide venues…

Debate is well under way regarding the efficacy of the "No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act," including whether this bundle of federal rules and resources is prompting gains in student achievement. Spirited conversation will intensify as the Congress discusses how to adjust and reauthorize this ambitious set of school reforms. Both state and…

Improvement efforts in American education must be supported and sustained. The 1997 "Education Agenda" identifies the Education Commission of the States' priorities for 1997-98 and describes the broader context within which education systems exist. It provides an overview of the following transformational forces in education: the impacts…

The North Carolina School Improvement Panel was created in August 1995 to frame a single plan for improving public education in North Carolina by pulling together the four major reform initiatives already under way in the state. The resulting plan, as presented to the State Board of Education in 1997, has four priorities: high student performance;…

To help educators with accountability concerns, this guide provides a method for establishing and evaluating accountability systems in states, districts, and schools. Standards-based accountability refers to collecting and reporting information based on students' progress toward achieving established standards. To be useful, an accountability…

Ways in which state governments can effectively deal with seriously underachieving schools are presented in this report. Governors and other state leaders are beginning to understand how important it is for students to be better prepared and that, as policymakers, they are obligated to demand accountability from students, from schools, and from…

This book describes the nation's most comprehensive and longest-running statewide school-reform initiative: the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). Focusing on the broad picture, the book is a compilation of 17 articles by education experts who were asked to examine the intended and unintended consequences of Kentucky's reform law. The book…

This dissertation examined the transfer experiences of students who exited the Community College of Baltimore County (Maryland) and transferred to Towson University during 1999. The research questions addressed the issues of the role of the community college in teacher preparation and how the institutions help or hinder the transfer of prospective…

This briefing packet contains data on the school and district accountability results for Kentucky's state assessment system, the Kentucky Instructional Results Information System, for 1994-1995 through its last use in 1997-1998. The first section contains state and regional accountability indices by grade level, with number of students tested and…

In March of 1999, the Professional Development Laboratory (PDL) of the New York University School of Education conducted an Evaluation Forum to address the issue of evaluating professional development. The Forum engaged PDL stakeholders, educational leaders, and community supporters in generating and responding to critical questions related to…

This handbook provides current regional accreditation eligibility requirements and accreditation standards for community, junior, and specialized two-year colleges. It is intended for the use of institutions under review, members of evaluation teams, and others that are concerned with good practice in associate degree-granting institutions.…

This paper pursues the evolving relationships between Foucauldian understandings of surveillance (the disciplinary observation of the many by the few) and Debordian notions of spectacle (the disciplinary observation of the few by the many). It argues that education today must be understood according to a setting in which spectacle and surveillance…