Three Rivers Community College (TRCC) in Missouri began its self-study process in January of 1995. Within the next two and a half years, when the comprehensive evaluation visit took place, the steering committee, the coordinator, and the vice president/dean of academic affairs produced a self-study that gained continued accreditation for TRCC and…

In an effort to improve student achievement in low-performing districts, 22 states have developed academic bankruptcy laws, allowing them to intervene in districts that consistently fail to satisfy state education performance standards. This policy brief presents an overview of these statutes. The text offers a comparative summary of state…

The small schools literature began with the large-scale quantitative studies of the late 1980s and early 1990s that firmly established small schools as more productive and effective than large ones. These studies confirmed various benefits of small schools--higher academic achievement, increased student satisfaction, and fewer dropouts and…

The issues of excellence and equity in American education are examined in this paper, which also outlines the effective schools movement behind the competing goals of excellence and equity. The traditional approaches to educational change and the reasons why these approaches have been ineffective are summarized. This paper shows how the need to…

This paper presents recently completed case histories of three pairs of elementary schools (one urban pair, one rural pair, one suburban pair) that have been observed over a 7-year period during the Louisiana School Effectiveness Study, phases III and IV. These pairs of schools were studied extensively in 1984-85 and again in 1989-90, using staff…

The ways in which the educational structure in The Netherlands has consequences for educational administration are described in this paper. The introduction discusses the concept of educational effectiveness and stresses learning outcomes as a primary goal and the next section outlines the structure of The Netherlands' educational system,…

This study compared the academic math achievement of two homogeneous classes of gifted and talented sixth graders, with one group attending year-round school (N=22) and the other group following the traditional school calendar (N=26). Both groups were taught the same pre-algebra math program in the 1991-1992 school year, and data were gathered…

While historically higher education has utilized many different planning paradigms and elements, two concepts (strategic planning and operational planning) can be presented as the major planning concepts into which the various paradigms can be placed. Starting in fall 1991, Seminole Community College developed a planning model which integrated…

The educational establishment is under a great deal of pressure to improve and to prove to its critics that it has done so. This paper develops three concepts to support its thesis: effective schools, the change process, and outcomes-based education (OBE). To achieve effective schools, major change must take place. Yet change is not easy for…

This book describes the 27-year-old Hyde School and its innovative family-school partnership. The school focuses on the development of character as a prerequisite to academic achievement. It strives to instill the following values in its students: courage, integrity, leadership, curiosity, and concern. The founder of the school, Joseph M. Gauld,…

This document consists of the 11 issues of this brief newsletter issued between April 1993 and May 1994. The newsletter provides information to help schools and communities to reach the National Education Goals. Each issue contains reports on monthly satellite town meetings focused on specific goals or issues; topics to be discussed in upcoming…

One of a series of reports documenting efforts at educational restructuring nationwide, this paper focuses on the achievements and ideas of James Comer, founder and director of the School Development Program (SDP) of the Child Study Center at Yale University. The first part of the report presents remarks made by Dr. Comer on the history and…

This paper presents findings of a case study that evaluated the Effective Schools process implemented in the Clarke County (Virginia) Public School District. The district received a Chapter 2 grant in 1993 from the Virginia Department of Education to implement Effective Schools processes. Implemented in 1989, the school improvement project…

Nineteen families participated in a telephone survey concerning how schools can better serve students with behavioral needs, including students with behavior disorders, attention deficit disorders, hyperactivity, learning disabilities, mental disabilities, and pervasive developmental disorders. This report summarizes parent comments, with excerpts…

School choice is one of the most debated aspects of the current education reforms. This report provides an overview of the issue of elementary and secondary school choice as it is being debated in the 102nd Congress. Under a school choice program, parents and students have a greater opportunity to influence where students enroll. The report…