Many school reform initiatives now require school leaders to make curriculum and resourcing decisions on the basis of evidence about their likely impact on student achievement. In this paper, we discuss the implications of this policy demand in the context of a descriptive study of schools' capacity to collect, analyze, and use collective…

The concept of evidence-based practice is helping early educators, special educators, early interventionists, child care professionals, mental health professionals, social workers, health care professionals, and others to transform the services provided to children and families. The authors discuss the emergence of the evidence-based…

This study analyzes urban youths' career decision-making in a career and technical education program that provided work-based learning experiences and a pathway linking high school, community college, and work in biotechnology laboratories. The program provided work experiences not generally available to adolescents, and enabled students…

Understanding how people learn is the foundation of informed teaching, yet it is difficult for teachers to articulate and effectively use. This study investigated how two preservice teachers' conceptions of learning theories transferred to their decisionmaking during student teaching. This paired-sample case study examined Research-Based Framework…

With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), state education agencies (SEAs) and local educational agencies (LEAs) have stepped up activities to broadly expand their data collection and reporting systems. The Data Quality Campaign (DQC) has advocated strongly for states to build robust student-level longitudinal data systems based on…

This report presents results of a study of five state and local computer-based special education management information systems (MISs). Descriptions are provided of the five MISs used for reporting and decision-making in special education, the planning and implementation processes used by the states and districts, and the general benefits that…

Designed for use in the BRIDGE program of Seattle Public Schools, this career development portfolio is a 4-page blank form designed to encourage students to take responsibility for their decisions and development to enhance career opportunities and options. It is a tool to help students connect their learning to their success in the workplace. The…

This paper chronicles ongoing alterations to the organizational structure of the acquisitions department at Pennsylvania State University using the tenets of total quality management (TQM). The movement toward reorganizing for process improvement began in late 1992 when the associate dean of libraries called the acquisitions department together to…

This curriculum is intended to provide social service agencies, schools, vocational programs, and other groups concerned with persons having developmental disabilities with guidelines and practical techniques for developing training and support services that encourage choice-making. Emphasis is on allowing people with disabilities to take as much…

This paper describes the application of a risk-based decision-making process in education and the use of risk communication with special education students and their parents. Risk-based decision making clarifies uncertainties inherent in a decision by examining the probability of a resulting harmful effect and the consequences of decisions made.…

This document contains the materials for an electronics course that was developed by an ad hoc committee of women employed in electronics and employers and educators in the electronics field and that is targeted toward single parents, displaced homemakers, single pregnant women, and other women interested in pursuing nontraditional careers. The…

In a climate of rapid change, increasing innovation, and proliferating knowledge, lifelong learning is an important educational objective. Lifelong learning skills need to be developed if educators intend for their students to stay current in their fields. Staying abreast of new innovations, research, techniques, and information is a prerequisite…

This document contains four papers on aviation education. The first paper, "Why Aren't We Teaching Aeronautical Decision Making?" (Richard J. Adams), reviews 15 years of aviation research into the causes of human performance errors in aviation and provides guidelines for designing the next generation of aeronautical decision-making materials.…

In this speech, the chairman of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-First Century describes education as a pathway into the 21st Century. He suggests that if education is to become central in contributing to human progress, policymakers must learn from the experiences of the past 20 years, take the variety of situations into…

In this speech to the members of the general conference of UNESCO, the chairman of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-First Century describes the progress of the Commission's work. The chairman discusses education and the challenges of the world as it enters the 21st century. Changes mentioned include the rapid pace of…