The use of statewide tests of student achievement as one component of accountability are certainly not new. An increasing number of states have mandated statewide testing through legislation aimed at tying financial incentives to a variety of accountability indicators including student achievement. These initiatives have generated several side…

Charter schools represent the fastest growing reform movement in public education today. This report focuses on what has been learned so far about the range of charter schools, and how to create effective charter school policies focusing on five states with statutes that have proven effective in spurring the creation of charter schools: Arizona,…

This study examined teacher selection practices of principals at five effective elementary schools, assessing whether or not differences existed in selection qualities, procedures, and problems relating to schools' socioeconomic status (SES), and community type. After identifying effective schools, the study conducted teacher and principal…

The Teachers College at Emporia State University sponsors a biennial survey measuring the attitudes of Kansans toward their public schools. The results of the 1989 survey are reported here (the survey was patterned after the national Gallop Poll on public education). The report opens with details of the research procedures, which includes…

The Teachers College at Emporia State University sponsors a biennial survey measuring the attitudes of Kansans toward their public schools. The results of the 1991 survey are reported here (the survey was patterned after the national Gallop Poll on public education). The report opens with details of the research procedures, which includes…

The Teachers College at Emporia State University sponsors a biennial survey to measure the attitudes of Kansans toward their public schools. The results of the 1993 survey are reported here (the survey was patterned after the National Gallop Poll on public education). The report opens with details of the research procedures, which includes…

This pilot study focuses on the loss of community-like climate as a factor in the quality of rural schools and in perceptions of the effective rural education image. Surveys of 129 school administrators, teachers, and students from five rural schools in Oklahoma covered 18 factors identified in the literature as affecting school effectiveness.…

This report contains student data obtained from the 1999-2000 Transfer Program Graduate Follow-Up Survey at Parkland College (Illinois). The alumni were surveyed during the summer following graduation. Results include: (1) about 89% of the students studied attended Parkland with an intent to transfer to a four-year university or college; (2)…

For its sixth national conference, a national collaboration in support of school reform sharpened its focus by asking Houston Independent School District (HISD) to host the conference and serve as a "case study." HISD was an ideal subject because of a long history of addressing statewide standards-based reform and engaging in multiple…

This report provides an analysis of a 2-year study of 12 urban public schools in Canada. The purpose of the study was to examine the inner workings of secondary schools in low-income settings that create high achievement for their students. The schools were selected on the basis of their achievement on provincial, school-leaving examinations and…

This booklet discusses strategies for reducing repetition of grades by students at primary, secondary, and higher education levels. Large numbers of pupils repeat their grades every year, and these repetition rates are considered good indicators of an educational system's effectiveness. A high repetition rate indicates that a large number of…

Most research on school effectiveness has focused solely on academic outcomes among pupils. In standardized educational systems, academic outcomes tend to be measured in terms of examination results. In other systems, outcomes are measured in terms of standardized ability test scores. Studies that focus on both academic and nonacademic outcomes…

This paper responds to President Clinton's call for an end to social promotion. The article reports on a study that examined the effects of social promotion on students, looked at alternatives to social promotion, and investigated how teachers in a representative public school district perceive social promotion. Data were gathered from 46…

This paper draws on the Western Australian School Effectiveness Study (WASES) to examine school-level factors associated with improved teacher morale as one measure of effective high schools. The 1997 WASES teacher sample included 212 teachers from 28 rural and urban high schools in Western Australia. Data analysis using the Multilevel Linear…

Using secondary sources and interviews, this study collected data from the 50 states on how they assess student and school performance and implement accountability. Detailed findings revealed an array of practices by states. The findings answer: (1) "How are states measuring student performance?" (2) "How are states reporting performance on these…