This Report describes a performance contracting program in Norfolk, Virginia; presents its results; and draws some inferences about the utility of performance contracting as a means for improving education. Participants were students from grades 7-9 in one junior high school and from grades 4-6 in one elementary school; both schools were in the…

A food and nutrition study conducted in six different areas of one state is discussed. The youth phase of the program was designed to provide an educational program for young people from low-income families. Pre-tests and post-tests were prepared and designed to determine the effectiveness of the Tricks for Treats unit in influencing the behavior…

This report provides a broad overview of previous NDEA institute evaluation reports on summer institutes two or more summers ago. Emphasis is on how to make the institutes more effective. Primary purposes of the summer institutes are to: 1) change what and how students learn in elementary and secondary school classrooms; and, 2) change college and…

This discussion of improving the values of youth focuses on school-business programs for disadvantaged students. Highlights include mentoring programs; a project in Boston, the Boston Compact, that provides jobs for students who graduate; and a review of business policies that encourage positive values among employees. (LRW)

Edvantia, Inc. (formerly AEL) publishes "TransFormation" twice a year to provide policymakers with interpretive summaries of significant reports and rigorous studies about school transformation, giving special attention to research with possible implications for improving low-performing schools.This final print issue of…

The author recommends that teachers receive a strong liberal education followed by a two-year postbaccalaureate training program. In addition, the schools must be reorganized to include hierarchically structured teams of teachers headed by those with even further professional training and higher pay. (Author/JM)

Describes summer school sessions developed by Houston schools to improve performance of academically at-risk eighth graders on the Texas Educational Assessment of Minimum Skills (TEAMS). Highlights include content area lessons in language arts and mathematics; study and test-taking skills; multimedia instructional materials; and student and…

Legislative and programmatic efforts to improve teacher quality have become a major focus of state policymaking in recent years. States have employed numerous strategies in response to concerns about the preparation, quantity, and capacity of the teacher workforce. In this chapter, the authors introduce conceptual frameworks for understanding…

Educators and policymakers have accomplished much over the past decade, aided by parents and taxpayers. California has set a high bar for what all children are expected to learn, from kindergarten forward. Instructional materials and tests are now closely aligned, so that teachers know how to gauge their students' progress. And achievement growth…

This is a report on the progress that has been made since HMIE published "Student Teacher Placements within Initial Teacher Education" in October 2005 in response to a request by the Minister for Education and Young People. The report was based on extensive fieldwork and consultation over session 2004/2005, activity which itself…

Two middle schools, one junior high school, and two senior high schools participated in a study conducted from 1977-81. The study project included both development and research activities. The goal of development activities was for each school to start or refine administration-organization arrangements and improvement strategies. Research…

This booklet describes a number of activities initiated in the State of New Jersey to improve academic standards and to help teachers prepare their students for taking New Jersey's High School Proficiency Test (HSPT). The HSPT, administered to all public school ninth graders, is more demanding than the previously used Minimum Basic Skills Test.…

Programs of school improvement based on characteristics of effective schools as identified by school effects researchers have proliferated in recent years. This paper describes major school improvement programs now underway throughout the United States: (1) programs organized and administered within schools and school districts in New York City;…

This paper reports on two comprehensive multi-institutional collaborative efforts for school improvement. The two studies demonstrate that collaborative efforts involving multiple agencies and multiple agendas can be successful even when separated by considerable geographical distance. The school systems were concerned with implementing a locally…

Public policy issues relating to federal assistance to colleges struggling to survive in the 1980s are addressed. Special challenges to postsecondary education result from declining enrollments, inflationary cost spirals, and lack of public confidence in education. Questions are raised in regard to the following five public policy alternatives,…