The Alabama Commission on Higher Education has the statutory responsibility for the overall statewide planning and coordination of higher education in Alabama, the administration of various student aid programs, and the performance of designated regulatory functions. This annual report provides information about all of these responsibilities and…

This report provides an overview of southeastern state efforts to assist low-performance schools in building capacity to improve students' academic achievement. High poverty, poor economic resources, and a high turnover rate of both students and practitioners are factors that impede school improvement. High-poverty schools that do improve commonly…

The Wisconsin legislature has required the Department of Public Instruction to adopt or approve standardized tests for statewide use to measure student attainment of knowledge and concepts in grades 4, 8, and 10. Although school districts generally gave high ratings to the contents of TerraNova (McGraw Hill), the testing instrument most recently…

The practices, policies, and procedures used in all 50 states for evaluating school and school district effectiveness were examined, with a focus on the study of methodological and measurement issues in the collection, analysis, and reporting of information for accountability purposes. Data were collected through computerized literature and Web…

"Ombudsman" is derived from the Swedish word meaning agent or representative. It has come to denote a trusted commissioner or agent who looks after the interests or legal affairs of a particular group. Through their unique access to information and investigative authority, ombudsmen often bring endemic problems within child serving systems to the…

There is a trend toward State education department leadership in the installation of management systems for vocational education, partially because of the avaliability of funds for curriculum purposes. There are three basic types of State curriculum laboratories supervising curriculum management and dealing with curriculum problems. (AG)

On the premise that alternatives are needed and that they will have a better service and survival rate if they are public rather than private, Illinois has instituted a network for educational options. (Editor)

Believes that the New Jersey Commission of Education's Policy of state-wide testing creates an atmosphere of repression against teachers'' and curbs imagination and innovation'' in children. (DS)

Briefly described is Alaska's rural home helper program, part of the Homemaker Service of the Department of Health and Social Services of the state of Alaska. (CB)

The purposes of this paper are to (1) consider the state testing program from the county point of view, (2) relate the testing program to other state required programs, and (3) make some suggestions for the future. (Author)

Although participants are convicts still serving time, they hold regular jobs in the community. However, unlike paroled felons, they must spend their nights in a Work Release Community Center. (BH)