In 2000, the state of Nebraska passed legislation requiring the assessment of student performance on content standards, but its requirements were very different from those of any other state. Nebraska created what has come to be known as STARS (School-based Teacher-led Assessment and Reporting System). Under STARS, each of Nebraska's nearly 500…

For many small rural school districts across America, the effort to attract and retain quality teachers continues to be a major concern. Schools located in what are considered to be "hard to staff" areas experience the most difficult. While not all communities face the problems of inadequate teacher supply, many small and rural school…

During the last 35 years, the right-to-education movement and the standards-based educational reform movement have merged to impact reading research and practice. In the process, equal access to education has become a reality for minority students and students with disabilities. The passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2001 and the…

This qualitative study examined the professional growth of literacy teachers as they scaffolded students' one-to-one literacy learning within a university reading clinic tutoring experience. These teachers--graduate students within a reading education program--documented both their own learning and that of their students through various venues.…

For several decades, the Maltese educational system was almost entirely reliant on English examination boards for certification in secondary and post-secondary education. In the 1990s, Maltese policy-makers decided to establish an affordable local examination system aimed at a wide range of students. This paper focuses on the review of the…

In light of the passage of the recent mandate for assessment and accountability measures, this article explores the potential impact of such policies and measures on efforts to recruit and retain African American and other ethnically diverse special education teachers. The recruitment and retention of African American teacher candidates is largely…

Accountability is perhaps the most significant issue facing educators today. How can school professionals document that their work results in significant positive outcomes? This issue is especially critical to the many special and general educators moving into collaborative partnerships, given the dramatic shifts in their professional roles…

Congress has begun to rewrite the Higher Education Act, the federal law that authorizes student aid programs like Pell Grants, student loans, Federal Work-Study, TRIO and GEAR UP. This will mark the eighth time that the law has been formally revisited since it was enacted in 1965. It is still early in the process and it is uncertain what the…

Professionals with expertise in assessment and diverse learners are in demand to assist in developing and implementing large-scale assessment and accountability systems. This article highlights aspects of current federal legislation that pertain to the development of these systems, describes the areas of expertise and unique perspectives of…

Although No Child Left Behind (NCLB) aims to close the achievement gap that parallels race and class, some of its key provisions are at odds with reforms that are successfully overhauling the large, comprehensive high schools that traditionally have failed students of color and low-income students in urban areas. While small, restructured schools…

Purpose: Across mainstream educational leadership literature, the term vision has had two primary definitions: (a) a leader?s image of the future and (b) change goals. Translating vision into practice has become increasingly difficult, however, as educators have been bombarded with conflicting images and goals for schools. This article is…

Colleges and universities interact with multiple constituents or quality monitoring groups that require programme-level assessment of student learning. These required assessments might be used to demonstrate accountability, programme improvement or a combination of both. These demands often challenge instructional faculty to choose between the…

Districts in communities experiencing population shifts are being challenged to address three concerns simultaneously: be responsive to the strengths and educational needs of students from increasingly diverse backgrounds, provide meaningful professional development for an expanding or contracting workforce to meet those needs, and ensure that…

The Big Picture schools focus on a "one student at a time" model, which eschews subject based-internships, independent projects, and exhibitions of students' work. The company's goal is to help students acquire the motivation, skills, and personal qualities they will need for college and life. In 1996, Big Picture founder Dennis Littky…

This research studies the effects of mobility on the high-stakes test scores of a Title I South Central Texas school district. The study involved 10, 5th-grade elementary feeder school populations graduating to the 6th grade in 3 middle schools. The researcher compared the 1st administration scores of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills…