This article argues that the information fund accounts provide about a college's financial health is too limited and that global accounting provides more complete and accessible records of institutional performance, including total income and spending. The experience of Williams College (Massachusetts) is used as an example. (MSE)

Explores the policy uses of assessment and focuses particularly on its persuasive role in encouraging higher levels of educational performance and on its accountability and regulatory functions. Policymakers continue to insist that assessments can be used for multiple purposes, in spite of past experience and expert evidence to the contrary. (SLD)

Includes "A National Report Card for Vo-Tech. Excerpts from NAVE--the Federal Government's National Assessment of Vocational Education"; "The Path to a New Perkins Act" (Plawin); and "Good Intentions Gone Bad? NAVE Didn't Mean for Skill Training to Be Removed from High Schools. Doing So Would Be a Terrible Mistake"…

Cooperative learning is a developmentally appropriate tool that enhances subject relevancy and real-life learning for adolescents. When coupled with an interdisciplinary curriculum, cooperative learning can add instructional variety, help students show consideration for others, involve students in decision making and problem solving, provide…

Data on the testing practices of 14 of the largest school districts in America indicate how schools inflate their test scores by excluding low-achieving students. Exclusion makes comparison among school districts and states virtually impossible. For children who are excluded, being left out of tests starts a cycle of bad education that ultimately…

Outcome-based education (OBE) is a comprehensive approach to focusing, defining, and organizing all aspects of a school system around clear demonstrations of learning. Responds to issues opposition groups raise about OBE and describes a meeting of OBE supporters and opponents that yielded an agreement to seek common ground. (MLF)

The concepts of "image" and "image management" in higher education are relatively new outcomes of an overall debate about accountability. Competition for faculty, students, and resources demands that colleges and universities promote their faculty's good work. Public support and trust are critical to funding and understanding…

Without profession-based quality control, well-meaning legislators are actually reducing the quality of our nation's teachers by implementing alternative certification laws allowing individuals with no preparation except a college degree to become teachers. Until teachers are well educated and carefully licensed, education reform will not succeed.…

The relationship between church and college rests on shared commitments and mutual benefit. Maintenance of mutual trust and confidence requires that faculty and administrators affirm their shared mission, and keep curriculum content and campus life consonant with it. Such a relationship enables conflict resolution and advancement of denominational…

Describes movement toward quasi-market-based systems of resource allocation in Britain's universities. Considers the appropriateness of existing organizational structures to meet the cost and quality pressures generated by these systems. Draws on ideas from the total quality movement to analyze the implications for organization, control, and…

After the Kentucky Supreme Court declared Kentucky's educational system unconstitutional, the state launched a unique, comprehensive restructuring effort. Top-down state education department reforms include development of world-class curriculum standards, a statewide authentic assessment system, and a school accountability system linking sanctions…

Describes the Kansas Community College Research Consortium (KCCRC), focusing on motivations for organizing a research consortium to meet accountability demands, the KCCRC's organization and operating procedures, determination of objectives and dissemination of results, strengths and weaknesses, and examples of KCCRC studies. (DMM)

Reviews techniques for evaluating teachers in Britain and other countries, as well as personnel evaluation in industry. Examines the linking of appraisal with pay, promotion, or dismissal. Argues against the accountability model of appraisal and makes a case for formative evaluation. (SK)

Discusses the impact that Chancellor Joseph Fernandez has had on the New York City school system. Discusses his ideological beliefs, which include school-based management and accountability. Comments on Fernandez's personal style and how this has affected his relationships with teachers, parents, principals, and others involved in the educational…

Control over local schools, even in the heartland, no longer rests securely in hands of local communities. Since passage of Colorado's first state finance law 17 years ago, power has shifted inexorably from the school board meeting room in Colorado Springs to state house in Denver. However, state's demands for local accountability outstrip demands…