This policy paper examines the products, services, and innovations that a fully competitive marketplace could generate if the government loosened its grip on education, noting that the failure of government-run schools to prepare students for the rigors of the modern economy is a pressing policy problem as well as an opportunity for the private…

This report analyzes information from 12 Educational Flexibility Partnership Demonstration (EFD) program state reports submitted to the U.S. Department of Education in spring 2000. The EFD program helps schools and districts implement educational reforms and raise student achievement by providing increased flexibility in implementing federal…

The educational advantages conferred by rurality and smallness have their greatest impact at the school and classroom level, but this same rurality creates district or system-level problems that have often been solved by consolidation. Consolidation efforts have been waning because they are politically unpopular, good economic times allow states…

This collection of papers presents three approaches to urban educational reform. After "Introduction--Urban Education Reform: Competing Approaches" (James G. Cibulka and William Lowe Byrd), Part 1, "Systems Reforms of Urban School Systems," includes (1) "Accountability at the Improv: Brief Sketches of School Reform in Los…

Following the proposal of the Chancellor of the California Community to shift from attendance-based funding to performance-based funding, Palomar College (California) has articulated its intention to judge its quality and formulate its policies primarily on learning outcomes. Out of this imperative, the Assessment of Learning Project (ALP) was…

In 1996, the Pew Charitable Trusts gave 4-year grants to seven urban school districts to help implement standards-based systemic reform. Several times each year, researchers conducted interviews to track progress in their reform efforts. This report synthesizes findings across all 4 years of the Pew Network. Overall, Network sites worked hard to…

This paper describes Louisville, Kentucky's Community Accountability Team (CAT), which promoted parent and citizen involvement in school reform. It was unique to the Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS), a large, urban district, and represented a strategy in a rapidly building national movement to make education more transparent and accountable…

This reference guide contains clear and concise explanations of concepts related to educational testing and standards. The book may be read straight through as a primer on educational assessment or may be used as a reference for particular topics. The sections are: (1) Accountability (Consumers, Taxpayers, and Citizens); (2) Authenticity in…

This report discusses the findings of a study that examined what states know about several aspects of accountability for students with disabilities at the district level. As part of an annual survey of states conducted by the National Center on Educational Outcomes, state directors of special education from all 50 states answered questions on…

This report presents findings of an audit of the New York State Education Department's Office of Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities (VESID). The audit concluded that VESID oversight of school districts may not be adequately targeting formal reviews of special education programs to those districts that pose the…

This report reanalyzes test score data from Florida public schools in the context of determining the effects of vouchers on student performance. In response to a recent report from the Manhattan Institute, An Evaluation of the Florida A-Plus Accountability and School Choice Program, by J. P. Greene, 2001, it offers a different perspective and an…

This paper explores the federal role in the development of state accountability systems for secondary school achievement. The first section of the paper examines seven suggested proximate causes for the poor performance of U.S. secondary school students. This section concludes that the causes for the relatively poor performance of U.S. secondary…

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 study defined and validated a new set of dimensions, new anchoring descriptions, and a new rubric format for assessing participation in collaboration. One strand of the research explored the use of analog video-technology to conduct summative assessment of collaborative inquiry. The second strand of the research explored the use of video…

This digest addresses city and state takeover as a school reform strategy, outlining the emergence of takeover in the past decade, discussing promises and limitations that takeover offers, and synthesizing the research to date on takeover's effectiveness. A notable trend over the past decade is greater implementation of takeover reforms,…