This report emphasizes the rationale for and procedures of a high school graduate follow-up telephone survey in Hampton, Virginia, conducted on classes of even-numbered years. The survey instrument and charts of results from 1982-86 comprise over three-fourths of the document. The follow-up survey was initiated to gather information for a school…

During May of 1985, an external audit team was engaged by the Lorain (Ohio) City Schools to assess implementation of the seven correlates of an effective school. The correlates, developed by the Ohio State Department of Education, included: (1) a sense of mission; (2) strong building leadership; (3) high expectations for all students and staff;…

South Carolina's School Incentive Reward Program Program (SIRP) based on year-to-year gains in reading and mathematics achievement, which seemed to have face validity, was evaluated, particularly its use of the relative gains of students in only the highest grade in the school as the basis for the awards. When this requirement was relaxed so that…

To determine if a relationship can be found between school size and academic achievement, a study examined correlations for 566 New Mexico public schools (grades 5, 8, and 11) from 1978 to 1981. The measure of academic achievement used was the schools' average "total scale score" on the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills. The two…

This report focuses on effective urban schools in the context of desegregation. The introduction takes a retrospective and prospective look at desegregation in terms of: (1) progress since the last report; (2) the changing focus of equal educational opportunity; (3) an agenda for the 1980s; and (4) equity and choice. The second section provides…

In a continuation of the national debate over education reform, the 14 contributors to this book outline several approaches to reform, address a variety of current education issues, and relate parent and teacher perspectives on education. An overview by President Ronald Reagan of education reform issues is provided, followed by chapters on the…

This longitudinal study summarizes the findings of the United States District Court Monitoring Commission, a temporary agency established under the Bradley v. Milliken desegregation case. The salient issues illustrated by the study are discussed. Sources of data highlighted by the commission are described: (1) the longitudinal survey of teachers…

This paper studies the needs and strengths of rural schools with the intent of improving rural science education. It examines the history of rural schools, and posits a rural-to-urban continuum of characteristics, citing studies that indicate rural schools are more effective in some ways than urban schools. The paper looks at needs of rural/small…

This study, focusing on 165 public elementary schools in Hawaii, examined the use of test scores as measures of curriculum effectiveness and identified context and input variables that may impact on these measures of effectiveness. Demographic characteristics and test data on approximately 12,000 third graders were used to obtain 165 school…

In the wake of January 1988 takeover legislation to improve education in the State of New Jersey, this paper describes and justifies the strict state three-tier monitoring system of school district educational standards. School districts that need improvement after the first level of monitoring must develop an improvement plan to overcome their…

The Nebraska educational system is experiencing internal turmoil even though its students are highly ranked nationally on standardized tests and show a higher ratio of graduating high school than those in most other states. This report was commissioned by Nebraska education officials who were concerned that their state was not taking a large…

The relationship between the costs of schooling and the size of school districts is discussed. The first section of this paper provides a critical survey of what economists have written about economies of scale and questions whether bigger is really cheaper or more efficient, as is generally found in commercial endeavors. The second section…

This document presents data summarizing the indicators of educational quality in the Austin (Texas) Independent School District (AISD) and, where possible, compares the AISD data to data from other urban districts, the state, and the nation. Data are presented on student achievement overall, for college-bound students and among different ethnic…

Various models of school effects on student achievement were applied in a study of reading and mathematics achievement in the 94 schools of the Oklahoma City Public Schools. The Leadership/Climate Inventory, completed by 1294 teachers, rated school principals in the areas of expectations, instructional leadership, forceful or dynamic style,…

This paper sets forth and clarifies state-level policy issues that are implicit in the recommendations for reform provided by recent major reports on the status of American education. For each report under consideration, four questions are posed: (1) Who is recommending what? (2) Does the recommendation make sense in a state's total program? (3)…