This report presents the results of a study of higher education in California, focusing on the impending fiscal crisis of increasing demand, tuition, and costs. The study found that at a time when the educational needs for productive employment are increasing, college costs and demand are rising faster than funding. Until now, institutions have…

This collection of seven major presentations at a 1997 conference on assessment and quality in higher education includes three plenary presentations and four introductions to program strands. In "Accountability and Assessment in a Second Decade: New Looks or Same Old Story?" Peter T. Ewell stresses the importance of defining the academic integrity…

This essay critiques the way in which state accountability schemes reify aggregated achievement test scores and help undercut the meanings that inform properly rural sorts of education. The contemporary phenomenon of accountability is examined, along with its relation to the threatened meanings of rural life, the identity of the rural victims of…

This report addresses issues concerned with reporting educational results for students with disabilities, identifies principles to guide reporting practices, and offers recommendations. The report notes that there are many purposes for reporting and that reporting information on students with disabilities is important because it ensures that they…

This book offers case studies, observations, and practical, culturally responsive solutions to the challenges presented by diversity in the classroom. By telling stories and asking questions, the book explains that progress is slow-moving and that quality, equity, and fair, appropriate treatment are often very hard to find, even in good schools.…

This is the fifth report prepared by the Center for Education Reform (CER) evaluating the capacity and flexibility of state laws promoting charter schools. Three primary factors were evaluated in preparing charter-school quality rankings by state. The center finds that the establishment of multiple sponsoring authorities, in addition to local…

As a follow-up to an earlier ECS report on the extent to which states were prepared to implement President Bush's education plan, this report provides an in-depth examination of three major Bush plan initiatives: assessing student performance, motivating and assessing low-performing schools, and providing school-choice options. The report begins…

This paper recommends developing an infrastructure of federal support and federal assessment of student performance to ensure that schoolwide programs in high poverty neighborhoods are able to meet specific legislative goals. It argues for closer links between the federal government and school districts in helping schoolwide programs develop…

This report summarizes 48 states' current policies on the participation of students with disabilities in large-scale assessments and the accommodations noted in state policies as available for those students. In developing the summary, changes in state assessment policies were also checked. Charts in the report provide information on presentation…

Pursuant to the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998 and in accordance with Program Memorandum 2 issued by Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education, the State of Hawaii is submitting a transition plan under Option 3 to extend the current Multi-Year Plan. The plan discussed in this report takes into…

This report examines North Carolina's Charlotte-Mecklenburg public school system (CMS) and assesses its failures and achievements. Though the proportion of students who chose CMS over private and charter schools has decreased from 95 percent in the 1970s, it still remains over 80 percent. Enrollment for exceptional, and poor children and children…

This report examines the outcomes of the John M. McKay Scholarships Program, a statewide voucher program for students with disabilities in Florida that provides students with taxpayer-funded vouchers to be used at private schools or at other public schools. It argues that the McKay voucher program, which started in 1999, is rife with…

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) established 2 flexibility demonstration programs--State- and Local-Flex--that allow up to 7 states and 80 school districts to redirect up to 100 percent of certain NCLBA programs funds. The General Accounting Office (GAO) was asked to determine factors that affect states' and districts' decisions about whether…

This book demonstrates how classroom teachers can use cooperative learning techniques for lesson planning and classroom management. It emphasizes that cooperation among students is powerful, and it notes that just because students are in a group does not mean that they are cooperating. Part 1, "Getting Started with Cooperative Learning," includes…

Inspired by the gains in student achievement realized by the small schools movement in New York City, the Oakland Unified School District (California) has proposed creating a network of 10 new, small autonomous (NSA) schools over the next 3 years. School size will range between 250 and 500 students, depending on grade level. "Autonomous"…