Examines forces motivating reform in mental health services, suggesting that mental health practitioners and researchers have relied on traditional and apparently unsuccessful methods (with little or no scientific support) to ensure service quality and effectiveness; debunking six myths about mental health services; and suggesting that…

Examines a woman superintendent's 2-year tenure in a small southern city from a feminist perspective. Against a backdrop of community/district politics, shows how gender stereotyping still influences how female superintendents are perceived as school-system leaders. Women must resist traditional images reserved for them and reinvent the…

In 1998, California voters approved Initiative 227, requiring that all limited-English children be provided an English-immersion program for 1 year or longer as needed. Hispanic parents are leaders in the movement. Dire predictions that bilingual children in English-language classrooms would fall behind have not materialized. (Contains 18…

This commentary on "Accountability for All Students: Kentucky's Alternate Portfolio Assessment for Students with Moderate and Severe Cognitive Disabilities" (Kleinert and others), discusses the convergence of the inclusion movement and school reform efforts and the ability of the portfolio assessment to facilitate the inclusion of…

Out-of-level testing in state and district assessments is becoming more popular under the reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This practice (and use of different norm-referenced tests) confounds interdistrict comparisons and contributes to inequitable assessment practices. Proper scaling can remedy this situation. (MLH)

The cost of achieving high quality at numerous levels of large-scale assessment has been astronomical--in dollars spent and opportunities lost. Educators have all but ignored assessments developed by classroom teachers. Students can become motivated by becoming involved in classroom-based assessment, record keeping, and communication. (Contains 11…

The only way public schools can keep up with the economic facts of life is by learning how to educate virtually all students to a much higher standard at current costs. Three contemporary models of school accountability are the systems used in Kentucky, Chicago, and Edmonton, Canada. (MLF)

Describes experiences of two elementary math teachers, whose dynamic, hands-on teaching techniques were at odds with components of the Kentucky Instructional Results Information System (KIRIS). Despite these teachers' successful efforts, the new Commonwealth Accountability and Testing System (CATS) replacing KIRIS will not contain portfolios. (12…

States that, with limited budgets and taxpayers becoming more results oriented, institutions of higher education must develop evaluation processes to ensure that programs are meeting the needs of stakeholders. Describes one such process at Fox Valley Technical College (Wisconsin) that includes: (1) selection of programs; (2) preliminary…

Antarctica gathered in Ruschlikon, Switzerland, at the International Symposium on Early Childhood Education and Care for the 21st Century. The symposium's mission was to craft guidelines for programs that serve children under the age of formal schooling in countries throughout the world. After extensive discussions about what constitutes universal…

This article considers issues in educational reform, particularly accountability-oriented policies, and student motivation. We argue that prominent theories of motivation derived from cognitive traits/states are antithetical to the assumptions underlying conventional assessment formats and accountability-oriented reforms. We advance an alternative…

The leading school reform policy in the United States revolves around strong accountability of schools with consequences for performance. The federal government's involvement through the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 reinforces the prior movement of many states toward policies based on measured student achievement. Analysis of state achievement…

With the re-election of George W. Bush and the appointment of Margaret Spellings as his new secretary of education, many are wondering whether now is the time to revisit No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The historic law, passed by Congress with broad, bipartisan support and signed by the President in January of 2002, introduced significant new systems…

If the goal is to fundamentally change the culture inside schools, people need to move beyond the superficiality of professional learning communities and focus on a system of learners. Professional learning communities are in fact about establishing lasting new collaborative cultures. Collaborative cultures are ones that focus on building the…

The early childhood educational field has garnered attention with initiatives to foster skill acquisition in young children prior to kindergarten entry. These initiatives, in conjunction with the rigorous demands of curricular reform and a burgeoning accountability movement, invoke questions regarding the adequacy of the instruments used to assess…