Legislation passed during the 2001 Iowa legislative session established the Student Achievement and Teacher Quality Program, Iowa Code Section 284.12(1). This legislation requires the Iowa Department of Education (DE) to annually report the statewide progress on the following: (1) student achievement scores in mathematics and reading at the fourth…

At the request of Ohio's top government and education leaders, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, National Association of Charter School Authorizers, and National Alliance for Public Charter Schools have issued a report seeking to strengthen the state's charter school program. Among its 17 recommendations are calls for closing low-performing charter…

Career and technical education is a critical component of a number of Federal education and training initiatives that are designed to help support the development of a 21st Century workforce. Career and technical education is unique in that it fuses challenging academic curricula with relevant skill training in order to prepare secondary and…

This report, produced by the Illinois Community College Board, summarizes the results of academic, career and technical education, adult education, and developmental education programs that were reviewed during fiscal year 2004. Summaries include both program strengths and the common challenges colleges face in keeping instruction relevant while…

The Performance Report is an accountability initiative addressing important indicators and outcome measures that are built around the Policy Areas from the Illinois Board of Higher Educations' Illinois Commitment. The Illinois Commitment was developed based on the premise that higher education must be part of the process of providing a foundation…

The Illinois Community College System Performance Report for Fiscal Year 2006 provides comparative accountability information built around the priorities of Illinois higher education. The Performance Report is structured around the policy areas in the Board of Higher Education's "Illinois Commitment" and the complementary pledges of the…

This paper discusses outsourcing as one solution to the college cost crisis. It is not presented as the solution; rather, it is put forth as an attractive strategy characterized by minimal financial and programmatic risk. To explore the basic policy considerations associated with outsourcing, this paper briefly reviews why institutions consider…

This document, prepared by the National Indian Education Association (NIEA) and the Center for Indian Education, Arizona State University (ASU), is a preliminary report on the findings based on the hearings and consultation sessions NIEA has conducted on the No Child Left Behind Act in Indian Country. The purpose of the report is to provide…

A study assessed strategies agencies use to ensure that their workforces are receiving the training necessary to implement acquisition initiatives. Focus was on the General Services Administration (GSA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and Department of Defense (DOD). Findings indicated that the critical elements important to…

Teacher study groups (TSGs) contribute to professional development when participants explore, articulate, and extend their personal professional knowledge in a supportive setting. In this study of cultural variables in the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) classroom, tensions among aspects of professional accountability and responsibility…

This paper asserts that government responsibilities in education and the strong connection of Americans with their public schools are being tested, as a network of Religious Right groups, free-market economists, ultraconservative columnists, and others use vouchers as a vehicle to achieve their ultimate goal of privatizing education. Their…

How can we fix America's floundering public schools? The conventional wisdom says that schools need a lot more money, that poor and immigrant children cannot do as well as most American kids, that high-stakes tests just produce teaching to the test, and that vouchers do little to help students while undermining our democracy. But what if the…

Based on analyses and recommendations reported in School Improvement Planning: What's Missing?, the present report proposes ways to (a) reorganize school improvement guidance and (b) expand standards and accountability to encompass a component to address barriers to learning and teaching. In doing so, the work highlights the need and a focus for…

Much of education policy focuses on improving teacher quality, but most policies lack strong research support. We use student achievement gains to estimate teacher value-added, our measure of teacher quality. The analysis reveals substantial variation in the quality of instruction, most of which occurs within rather than between schools. Although…

This study investigated the relationship between the scales used for the NMSBA assessments and the RIT scales used to report performance on Northwest Evaluation Association tests. The study estimated the changes in reading and mathematics RIT score equivalents for the NMSBA performance levels in those subjects. Test records for more than 17,000…