Describes charter-school law in Texas, including sections authorizing open-enrollment charter schools. Reports on results of third-year evaluation of 89 open-enrollment charter schools. Evaluation includes student demographics and performance, parents, teachers, directors, revenue and expenditures, and the effects of charter schools on traditional…

Examines issues concerning triage and referrals for medical child-sexual-abuse examinations from the sociolegal system. Research recommendations are offered in the areas of structure of care, process of care, and outcomes for evaluation. (DB)

Reports on the ideas of Clifford Adelman, senior analyst at the Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement, noting his iconoclastic approach; research on enrollment patterns, student assessment, and remedial education; and reports on college-attendance patterns, engineering education, and women. Critics point to…

Claims the data from the Ohio Proficiency Test is rich but hard to use. Describes a process for analyzing the data to make it more manageable. Provides suggestions for using the results to make data-driven decisions. (NH)

Modesto (California) City Schools discovered common-ground thinking during a crisis over a safe-schools policy. Instead of shunning controversy, schools should face issues, invite all stakeholders, get training, formulate and approve policy, and train staff and the community to understand common-ground (religious neutrality) thinking. (MLH)

This paper comments on three preceding papers in the same publication on the general topic of self-determination for adults with severe disabilities. The author presents his own simpler definitions of self-determination and draws on his own experience of disability to assess the other articles. Specific suggestions and general needs for policy…

Gives some examples of the discourses of change that are found among teachers as they talk about their literacy instruction and compares them with the discourses of change that are found among policy makers, drawn from published policy documents. Discusses how educators might use this information in considering school change. (SG)

Presents the results of a study of differences in secondary school effectiveness among six regions (Lancashire, London, Jersey, Scotland, the Netherlands, and England as a whole). Findings define four dimensions of secondary school effectiveness: different outcomes, pupil groups, pupil cohorts, and curriculum stages. Draws implications for…

David Hume's monetary theory has been controversial since its formulation. Lately, the focus has been on Hume's alleged misapplication of the quantity theory of money. While he appears to subscribe to a simple quantity theory with money neutrality, in a famously contested passage in the essay Of Money, he violates the neutrality condition by…

Work-related self-identities are central to middle leaders' work. Their development takes place in social, policy and personal contexts. At the core of middle leaders' work-related identities lie values that guide how they interact with colleagues, students and senior management staff when trying to shape and implement departmental and school…

Philanthropy plays a visible but little-studied role in education reform, making it easy to both overestimate and underestimate its significance. The emergence of "new" givers in the last few years, like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation, has shifted the landscape of school reform. This article, based…

Too often, bullying goes undetected as victims suffer silently. Most anti-bullying programs must be strengthened to reduce or eliminate the quiet, sneaky bullying falling under adults' radar. Thus, there is a need to create a safe environment for children both above and below that radar. In this article, the author discusses the importance of…

Describes the author's experiences in the evaluation training program at Northwestern University (1978-1980) in a postdoctoral fellowship in methodology and evaluation research. Also discusses the value of the friendships and professional relationships formed at that time. (SLD)

For the last several years, Auburn University has been at the center of controversy over its governance practices. In April 2001, soon after the board of trustees abruptly fired popular president William V. Muse, representatives of the University Senate, the Student Government Association, and the Alumni Association jointly filed a complaint with…

Evaluation inarguably takes place within social, cultural, historical, economic, and political contexts--the contexts defined by human existence and experience. These contexts envelope many dimensions. Race, ethnicity, language, gender, age, religion, and sexual orientation are among the commonly listed demographic attributes of contextual…