The structures, organizations, and reward systems required to sustain universities, their faculty, and their students preclude genuine restructuring of schools of education. One promising reform path is school-based teacher education, which locates the primary faculty expertise, curriculum-development responsibility, and budget authority in school…

Claiming that individual school board members act in selfish ways, proposes electing entire school board as a slate. Board would collectively be held responsible for performance of the school system and all of its employees. State legislation would be required to specify how interested groups would select a slate and create a charter, which is the…

College faculty can minimize problems in grading students' cooperative projects by carefully structuring the five basic elements of formal cooperative learning groups: positive interdependence; individual and group accountability; face-to-face promotive interaction; teamwork skills; and group processing. There must also be sufficient reason for…

Winthrop University (South Carolina) has linked classroom research with program accountability in its Learning Research Project, which focuses on general education. The pilot and implementation phases of the project are described, noting problems, frustrations, and rewards in each. The experiment has convinced administration and faculty that…

Assesses students' post-college earnings as a specific outcome of a community college education. Describes the economic benefits of a community college education, outlines methodologies used to evaluate students, and discusses policy implications of accountability and performance measures. Contains 31 citations. (VWC)

Discusses accountability in Florida colleges, specifically the movement toward providing state funds to public higher education institutions based on student outputs and outcome--including post-graduation earnings--instead of full-time equivalency enrollment data. Describes several related legislative policies, including the Workforce Florida Act…

Summarizes key issues explored at the Northwest Symposium for Charter School Policy. Issues discussed included accountability and student evaluation, school autonomy, sponsorship and the charter approval process, school choice and parent involvement, equity concerns, opposition from teachers' unions, and startup issues. Sidebar profiles the…

People leading renewing lives typically recognize and break out of ruts; engage in self-inquiry; view education as a lifelong process; embrace failure as a learning experience; and pursue mutually respectful, caring relationships--a complex process. Reformers often ignore organizational complexities in pursuit of outdated accountability notions.…

The shift from multiple-choice testing to performance assessment has brought a subtle shift in measurement philosophy. Selecting assessment tasks based on inherent value complicates inferences from test scores to nontest situations. A measurement-driven reform strategy relying on performance assessments to drive curriculum and instruction seems…

Reviews the historical and political context of school reform, examining its problems and ambiguities as a policy and offering suggestions to minimize the risks of reform in urban schools. Concludes that state takeovers are detrimental because they do not address systemic problems in the affected school systems. Contains 51 references. (Author/SLD)

Describes the college accreditation processes in the United States within the larger context of state, federal, and institutional accountability and reviews some of the continuing debates over ways to improve accreditation. Notes key issues (gathering evidence and using expert judgment) receiving attention by accrediting agencies in recent years.…

Reports on a qualitative study which focused on perceptions and attitudes of a cross section of the University of Bradford (United Kingdom) staff with respect to the use of open and distance learning. Topics include lifelong learning, accountability, learning methods and technologies, flexibility, effective change practices, and policy…

In the literature, discussions of staff development (as a top-down decision-making model) have shifted to teacher-centered professional growth. Components include teachers as learners, reflective decisionmakers, collaborators, and accountability experts. Creating a culture of learning and involving teachers in strategic decision making are…

Examines the link between educational leadership in schools and students' performance. Educational leadership is a determining factor in student success. A leader must define and communicate the school's mission; plan, organize, supervise, and evaluate curriculum and teaching; foster a positive climate for learning, with clear student…

Addresses the increasingly critical need for accountability in English language teacher preparation. The English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) profession has fallen short in recent years and will continue to do so without better coordination of professional development in both academic preservice settings and in English-Language-Teaching (ELT)…