A diverse group of individuals was asked to prepare brief commentaries on the condition of higher education, its contribution to the economic and social development of southern U.S., and its need for reform. The 12 resultant essays, each printed seperately, and gathered together in this collection: "Higher Education: A Prized Asset in Need of…

This brochure describes the AASCU/Sallie Mae National Retention Project's goals, beginnings, continuing work, and participants. An introduction describes how the Project has resulted in over 370 state institutions looking closely at their effectiveness in student learning and achievement and at emerging accountability requirements. An overview…

The New Zealand education structures were reorganized on a national scale in the late 1980s. In 18 months, a 100-year-old education system was radically restructured to create new administrative structures, new career paths, and new professional expectations for personnel. This paper summarizes these structural changes, reviews research reports…

This paper evaluates a professional development training program in Western Australia that focused on the development of skills for self-evaluation and school development sessions in the context of local, school, and system accountability. The evaluation attempted to determine: (1) the relevance and value of the learning experience; (2) skill…

Citing longstanding educational deficiencies in the Jersey City Public School System, the New Jersey State Board of Education unanimously voted to take control of the district on October 4, 1989. This paper studies the first year of New Jersey's takeover policy for failing school districts. Data were collected through interviews, direct…

From the 1960s to the present, the complexion of educational administration has changed greatly. One reason is growing public demand for input into educational decision-making; other factors are found in accountability, evaluation, opportunities for women, human rights, teacher militancy and collective bargaining agreements, changing enrollment…

Within the Illinois Community College System (ICCS), each of the 49 member colleges reports to the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) on their improvements in productivity. This report summarizes the productivity reports on the ICCS colleges, examines the results of a series of analyses of productivity conducted by the ICCB from a statewide…

This report provides information on the Educational Quality Indicators (EQI) initiative, a 3-year collaboration between Alberta Education and 12 school jurisdictions to develop indicator systems that measure the success of the educational enterprise. Ten collaborative action-research projects were begun in 1989 and ended in 1992. Each project…

This conference presentation describes the AUEN (Addressing Unique Education Needs) system of assessing educational outcomes which is used by the Rochester (Michigan) Community Schools to help establish accountable and effective special education support programs and services. The AUEN provides an innovative and practical approach to assessment,…

This report presents findings of an 18-month study to find out how state political and education leaders gauge the performance of citizen boards of trustees and to assess the overall condition of academic governance. The study included interviews with more than 250 state officials and education leaders, site visits to seven states, and an…

Based on an extensive analysis of the characteristics of 113 accountability reports from 32 state education agencies, a study group convened to develop a list of necessary, desirable, and succinct characteristics of good state and district educational accountability reports. This report discusses the recommendations of the study group. Desirable…

This report addresses various issues related to assessment, explaining that assessment is an integral process in all of Texas's Centers for Professional Development of Teachers (CPDTs). Section 1 explains that CPDTs conduct assessment to improve programs continuously, improve the authenticity of the tasks associated with mastery of teaching,…

This document presents two papers given at a 1996 conference on children's mental health. The first paper is "New Approaches to Evaluating Systems" by Heather B. Weiss. This paper discusses the need for evaluations of systems change through the development and use of evaluation databases of both comprehensive programs and system reform efforts. It…

The School-Based Management and Accountability Program, also known as the "ABCs of Public Education," or just "the ABCs," is the statewide school-based accountability program for public schools in North Carolina. This document reports the results of the 1997-98 ABCs, in the second year of the implementation of the ABCs in…

Evaluation of foreign languages in the elementary school (FLES) programs is needed to provide feedback (descriptive data about a school's offerings) and accountability (program accomplishments). Thorough program evaluation verifies both a district's thoughtful, written philosophy of foreign language education and local goals. Some FLES program…