This testimony by the co-director of the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, Christopher Edley, examines the U.S. Department of Education's (DOE's) early implementation efforts regarding the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 (NCLB), recommending actions that the DOE should take to ensure that states, districts, and schools understand and…

Nonprofit organizations, private foundations, and for-profit corporations interested in shaping public education regularly partner with charter schools in New York. State law allows charter schools to pursue external partners to help meet their fiscal, facilities, operational, and instructional needs. This qualitative study of 10 schools in New…

This paper discusses the current state of fiscal relations between the federal, state and local governments in the United States and suggests directions for improvement. The significant degree of fiscal autonomy of the states and, to a lesser extent, of local governments has had several beneficial effects, including the responsiveness of public…

One criticism of Milwaukee's Parental Choice Program (MPCP) made by parents and policy makers focuses on the lack of information regarding student performance across participating schools. Schools participating in the MPCP are not required to either administer standardized exams or report their scores. The Public Policy Forum's annual census of…

"No Child Left Behind" ("NCLB") requires that parents receive certain information about their child's education, as well as the overall performance of the child's school on state tests in reading, math and science. "NCLB" gives funding for early childhood learning; allows for more spending on each student, especially disadvantaged students; and,…

The purpose of this paper is to stimulate discussion of how to measure the educational progress of Students with Disabilities (SD) and English Language Learners (ELL) students who are deemed unable to sit for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessment, even with accommodations. As NAEP has become more relevant as a state …

This book focuses on contemporary accreditation, why it matters, and how it can be done effectively. The author covers historical background, getting started, strategies for achieving accreditation, and visions for future academic success, with examples and case studies. Accreditation is the primary way of ensuring the quality of higher education…

The global movement to improve education by decentralizing governance and financial management and by holding school personnel accountable for outcomes aligned with standards extends even to traditionally centralized systems in Asia. The author explores research questions related to how resources are acquired, who decides how best to use resources…

The Office of Indian Education (OIE) helps support local education agencies, Indian tribes and organizations, postsecondary institutions, and other entities in their efforts to address the unique educational and culturally related academic needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) so that these students can meet the same challenging…

Over the past 6 years, 28 states have authorized the creation of charter schools as an alternative form of public education. This policy brief examines the goals and implementation issues specifically related to teaching and learning. It presents findings of a study that explored how learning communities were created and sustained in 17 charter…

This paper describes an evaluation strategy designed to assess the efficacy of an education system at the district level. The strategy provides a measure of accountability that takes into account the potential effects of demographic variables. The study focused on Bellevue Public Schools (Washington), a medium-sized district near Seattle with an…

The Missouri School Improvement Program is designed to promote excellence in the public schools of the state. Missouri has a dual responsibility for the quality of education provided its citizens. This document outlines the state's vision and expectations for a quality school. The standards are organized in three sections: resource standards,…

This book explores the practice of testing. Two postulates are assumed: that student assessment should improve performance, rather than just monitoring it, and that testing should be only a small facet of assessment. The first chapter, "Introduction: Assessment and the Morality of Testing," considers what assessment is and how it differs from…

Thirty-two states now have some form of accountability legislation that requires the reporting of school and school system performance indicators. This study examined the Alabama State Report Card to determine whether its information is sufficient to inform the public, legislature, and the media about the achievement of each school and school…

This report analyzes state statutes authorizing a new approach to the organization of elementary and secondary education in the public sector, the "outcome-based,""contract," or, as it is now commonly called, "charter school." Charter school statutes create an alternative legal framework for the formation of public schools by permitting a state…