The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 reauthorized and significantly expanded the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The Act and its accompanying fund increases offer numerous opportunities to improve teaching and achievement of young adolescents, targeting federal money more than ever to high poverty schools and districts and including…

The School BUS (bottom-up simple) model for school accountability uses local standards-based assessment data to improve schoolwide performance during the year, and from year to year. This system derives its ideas from abundant professional literature about successful school renewal. A local accountability process should link changes in school…

This report, from the Auditor of Public Accounts of the Commonwealth of Virginia, discusses an audit of the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) balance sheet as of June 30, 2000. The auditors considered internal controls over financial reporting and tested compliance with certain provisions of laws, regulations, contracts, and grants in…

This book is about the assessment and inclusion of all students, including those with disabilities, in statewide and district assessment programs. It addresses aspects of assessment such as testing practices, test content, legal guidelines, technical aspects of tests, students' learning objectives, and instructional programs. Throughout the book,…

These two newsletter issues of the National Transition Alliance (NTA) for Youth with Disabilities present articles concerning the transition of youth with disabilities from school-to-work (STW) and related informational items. The first issue contains the following articles: "Contextual Learning" (analysis of one of the five categories…

With the increasing demand for better schools, states and communities are providing more options to families. By doing so, they are not only improving educational opportunity for those children, but also having a dramatic impact on how schools operate in their communities. The most important options are full school-choice programs, charter…

This collection presents 90 papers or summaries of papers presented at a 2000 conference on self-study and institutional improvement for institutions of higher education. Papers are grouped into these chapters, with some sample topics in parentheses: (1) "New Designs in Higher Education, Improving Student Learning: Selected PEW Projects"…

This collection presents 90 papers or summaries of papers presented at a 2000 conference on self-study and institutional improvement for institutions of higher education. Papers are grouped into these chapters, with some sample topics in parentheses: (1) "State, Regional, and National Initiatives" (program descriptions); (2) "Validating Quality in…

This paper reviews how the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) will operate regarding different groups of students and schools, examining factors that could delay or dilute its guarantee of educational accountability for the academic achievement of all children. It discusses such issues as: what kinds of tests must be used and when, who must…

This paper discusses how the 2000 standards of the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) can be used in state accreditation standards to promote accountability. It describes standards 1 and 2: candidate knowledge, skills, and dispositions and assessment system and unit evaluation, then presents a few examples of…

This timely report focuses on accountability -- the current lingua franca of higher education -- and the question of the public trust as a reflection of the respect and confidence of the people that are served by the nation's colleges and universities. Designed to assist policymakers and educational leaders, the report identifies the components of…

The hot new phrase in school finance in California is "weighted student formula" (also known as "student-based budgeting"). Proponents of this concept believe it could eventually help the state develop a straightforward approach to school funding that is more equitable and effective. Skeptics, on the other hand, question the…

This paper discusses policies to improve fiscal relations between levels of government to better meet the needs of citizens, an objective of the government's "Roadmap for Decentralisation". Although local government accounts for around half of total government spending, they have little autonomy and fiscal resources vary sharply between…

The movement for developing and implementing adult English as a Second Language (ESL) content standards is gaining momentum in the United States as more emphasis is placed on learner outcomes, accountability, and professionalism in the field. Additional research is needed to investigate the impact that adult ESL content standards have on…

In 2003-04 representatives from six baccalaureate-granting Hispanic-Serving Institutions in three state public university systems participated in a project entitled, "Latino Student Success at Hispanic-Serving Institutions." These institutions include two from California State University--(Los Angeles and Dominguez Hills), two from City…