During the fall of 2000, the Office of Institutional Research surveyed employers of the 1998-1999 Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC) graduates. The purpose of the survey was to evaluate employer satisfaction with the job performance and general skills of PVCC graduates, as well as the effectiveness of the college's academic programs.…

This study analyses the impact of democratic decentralisation on the chances of socially excluded groups to participate in newly created local governance institutions--Panchayati Raj Institutions--in three Indian states. This institutional reform included a quota for the disadvantaged--women and lower castes--to ensure their effective…

The BC Council on Admissions and Transfer (BCCAT) has had a long-standing interest in measures of student mobility and the potential of the Provincial Education Number (PEN) being applied in post-secondary institutions at the applicant stage. The Admissions Committee of BCCAT included a project in its 2004/05 Work Plan to conduct a thorough…

Children's academic achievement has been shown to be influenced by many family factors, including family structure, socioeconomic status, and parenting styles. This study investigated the relationships among family structure, socioeconomic status, authoritative parenting, and children's academic achievement in a sample of 181 eighth graders in 2…

Theorists have traditionally described motivation in terms of approach and avoidance tendencies. In contrast, goal orientation research has focused primarily on two approach goals: demonstrating ability (performance-approach) and developing ability (task). A scale to assess the goal of avoiding the demonstration of lack of ability…

As part of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development project on international educational indicators, four networks were formed to represent different domains. This collection contains background papers that were prepared to deal with some of the fundamental questions about process indicators examined by Network "C," the…

As almost every state revises its mathematics frameworks or develops new ones, current testing practices remain almost unchanged. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), in its "Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics," argues for greater emphasis on application, reasoning, and conceptual understanding, but the…

This book gives an updated account of the present use and status of performance indicators (PIs)in British higher education, a decade after their controversial introduction into higher education policy. The first chapter explores some key issues in the development of PIs, noting that since their introduction as a largely, externally imposed…

Through naturalistic inquiry, the study reported in this book sought to determine the inner qualities that compel some black males to persist and overcome adversity, while others of their socioeconomic class quit and fail. The research was designed to identify the factors that led to the successful achievement of African American male students at…

The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 called for the U.S. Department of Education to prepare an Annual Performance Plan which links the Department's budget request with its Strategic Plan. To meet that directive, Volume 2 of the Department's Strategic Plan for 1999 is presented here. It includes the program performance plans that…

In this inaugural issue of "Brookings Papers on Education Policy" a varied group of scholars considers different dimensions of student performance. Several contributors try to offer a clear picture of how American students are performing as compared with their international peers and with the past. The following are included: (1) "Introduction"…

State departments of education (SDEs) play a pivotal role in the implementation of state-level school reform. This role is examined using two models of statewide school reform in Kentucky and Vermont. How the departments implemented their plans and how such implementation affected the internal dynamics of the departments, as well as the external…

The most important burden of charter schools is the need to demonstrate that the instruction they provide actually benefits students. They can hire their own teachers, make their own tradeoffs between spending on administration and teaching, locate anywhere in the community, and let parents know in advance what a child must do to succeed in the…

This guidebook provides an overview of the Common Framework for Skill Standards (CFSS) developed by the National Skill Standards Board (NSSB). It is designed for voluntary partnerships, convening groups, and anyone interested in learning more about how skill standards can increase the skills and productivity of American workers. A companion…

Student mobility--students moving from one school to another for reasons other than being promoted to the next school level-is widespread in the United States. This digest examines the research on the academic consequences of mobility for elementary school students and discusses what schools and parents can do to mitigate the possible negative…