This paper discusses the designs and effects of emerging state-level accountability systems. It claims that in a few years' time, state-level policymakers will be faced with recognizing that a substantial number of schools in their states will have failed to progress toward academic standards at the rate their reform plans demand. The paper has…

This policy brief reviews research on the effectiveness of summer-school programs. It begins with a short history of the current school calendar, including how 19th century agrarian life required children to stay home during the summer to attend to crops or livestock. Next, a meta-analysis of 13 studies brings to light the effects long summer…

This report provides information about how states identify schools that are not performing at expected levels and what some states have done to provide assistance in the improvement of these schools. Kentucky, North Carolina, and South Carolina share similarities in their approaches in that they spent time and effort in preparatory activities,…

The Houston Community College System 1999-2000 Fact Book provides general statistical information about the college system. It addresses financial information, personnel profile, student profile, academic achievement, enrollment trends, and instructional programs. Institutional goals and objectives for 1997-2000 include promoting student success,…

This report discusses various quality indicators for Front Range Community College (Colorado). Each of the 10 quality indicators and 10 additional indicators shown in the report is elaborated by details such as indicator description, operational definition, benchmark, source, results, and conclusion. Quality indicators include: (1) Student success…

This document summarizes annual reports provided by Massachusetts' charter schools. It is supplemented with information from reports required of all public schools in the state and provides profiles of the 24 charter schools that were operating in 1997-98. The report opens with an overview of the four common features of charter schools--freedom,…

This paper describes the development of teacher- accountability systems in North Carolina. It explains how state officials in the 1960s finally realized that the education of the citizenry was essential to the state's economic development. Initial efforts in school reform focused on the curriculum, but it soon become clear that simply writing new…

This template is part of a series that recommends best practices and highlights problems that arise when policy deviates from these best practices. The booklet defines and outlines the critical components of a successful academic standards system using examples of good and bad standards to illustrate key points. The template addresses such…

The report summarizes the preliminary findings from the Institutional Self-Study Follow-Up Survey of the faculty, administrators, staff, and students at South Texas Community College (STCC). The follow-up study was intended to address areas that were found to be of sufficient concern in the committee reports of the original Self-Study Survey as to…

The passage of the Children First Act in 1988 ushered in a new era of data collection, analysis, and reporting about the overall quality and condition of education in Louisiana. Implemented in 1990, this major piece of legislation resulted in the publication of the Progress Profiles (School Report Cards, District Composite Report, and the…

The passage of the Children First Act in 1988 ushered in a new era of data collection, analysis, and reporting about the overall quality and condition of education in Louisiana. Implemented in 1990, this major piece of legislation resulted in the publication of the Progress Profiles (School Report Cards, District Composite Report, and the…

This overview of the problem of linking testing and instruction describes two general policy areas which have focused attention on these links: studies of school effectiveness and minimum competency testing. Techniques used to investigate links between tests and instruction and policy issues that must be addressed are also discussed. (Author/CM)

The history of the relation between achievement tests and curriculum programs is reviewed, and it is concluded that content specialists are best qualified as sources of curricular goals to specify content, kinds of attainment, and standards. The specification of instructional intents is also considered from the perspective of modern cognition…

Reviews the literature on flexible scheduling (FS), with particular emphasis on flexible modular schedules (FMS), in secondary schools. Analyzes problems with FMS that might have contributed to its declining popularity in the 1970s. An extensive bibliography is appended. (AOS)

Students' poor international standing, declining test scores, teacher shortages, and inadequate salaries are factors directly related to economic survival of the United States by threatening to create a nation of technological illiterates. Government must encourage total school effectiveness. (PB)