In 1990 the Kentucky state legislature passed the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA), which mandated a total overhaul of the state's kindergarten through grade 12 public school system and was designed to result in equitable education for all students. Accountability components of the KERA include financial incentives for staff in schools where…

With the failure of the Pennsylvania General Assembly to adopt the governor's education reform package, the time is opportune to review the major problems with education in Pennsylvania and some actions that would relieve these problems. The main symptom of education problems, in Pennsylvania as in the nation as a whole, is weak academic…

Because human behavior is dynamic and influenced by multiple interacting variables, questions have emerged regarding the usefulness of a science that relies heavily on experimental methodologies. A review of current scientific practices in psychology illuminates how the cognitive authority of the field exonerates the standard view of science. This…

This book argues that school-based management appears to be primarily concerned with dismantling centralized education systems (which have traditionally supported the work of teachers, students, and parents) and replacing them with a free-market ideology of competition and choice. School-based management separates elite policy makers and interest…

As state governments and the public demand greater accountability from community and technical colleges, increasing focus is placed on the concept of assessing student academic achievement. To be effective, assessment processes should provide institutions with information that helps develop specific plans for improving operations. While processes…

The skills and knowledge required for productive employment and citizenship are constantly expanding. To secure America's economic future, more students than ever before must be educated at much higher levels. States have responded to the challenge with energy, leadership, and resources. This report describes those efforts and analyzes their…

This document contains a semiannual report on the activities of the Department of Education's Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the 6-month period ending March 31, 1996. It highlights the Office's significant accomplishments and activities, including: (1) a series of audit reports to aid reauthorization of the Rehabilitation Act; (2)…

In November 1994, the California State University (CSU) system developed a proposal to eliminate remedial education for entering undergraduate students, offering this proposal as a solution to raise the system's standards. However, the CSU has presented no research showing evidence of the problem that the proposal is intended to solve. Further,…

This document contains the testimony given by Cornelia M. Blanchette, associate director of education and employment issues in the Health, Education, and Human Services Division of the U.S. Department of Education. The document discusses challenges that the Department of Education faces in carrying out its mission in a cost-efficient and effective…

This collection presents 91 papers or summaries presented at a 1997 conference on self-study and institutional improvement for institutions of higher education. Papers are grouped in the following chapters (with sample topics in parentheses): (1) "Institutional Mission and Institutional Change" (vision statements; balancing quality and change);…

Developed to help ensure that the unique characteristics of community college occupational education are reflected in the current national movement toward institutional accountability, this monograph describes a model accountability system for community colleges. Following introductory materials, the focus of institutional effectiveness is…

This publication, which includes both English and Spanish versions, explains that standards describe what students should know and be able to do at each grade level. Every school that receives money from Title I, the federal educational aid program that provides extra educational services for children who are behind in school, must have standards…

Community colleges are democracy's colleges in the sense that the humanistic, inclusive, and flexible ideas at their core are democratic in tone and substance. Although these core ideas have not changed over time, the external pressures that shape program emphases, organizational structures, and community relations have. These forces include the…

This issue brief offers principles and guidelines for evaluating educational policies on the inclusion of students with disabilities in general education settings. Special education's development into an increasingly separate system since 1975 is noted, as is the continuing influence of policies that segregate students by disability. The brief…

One of the ideas frequently offered for the improvement of American education, privatization, has the advantage of conforming to the popular beliefs that markets produce better results than do government entities. This popular support has been a major reason for the willingness of local officials to consider changes that dismantle or supersede…