The Office of Inspector General (OIG) works to promote efficiency, effectiveness, and integrity in the programs and operations of the U.S. Department of Education (Department). Through OIG's audits, inspections, investigations, and other reviews, they continue to identify areas of concern within the Department's programs and operations and…

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) works to promote efficiency, effectiveness, and integrity in the programs and operations of the U.S. Department of Education (Department). Through OIG's audits, inspections, investigations, and other reviews, they continue to identify areas of concern within the Department's programs and operations and…

Currently there are multiple teacher education reform policies being proposed, piloted, and debated at a variety of levels and by various interest groups, stakeholders, and policy-makers. Along with an unprecedented sense of urgency about these important goals, what most U.S. reforms have in common is increased accountability. Using a discourse…

Faculty development has been evolving in focus and form over the past five decades. Originally organized around sabbatical leaves, faculty development now offers a wide array of programs and involves a growing body of highly professional, deeply dedicated professionals. As both faculty members and faculty developers with over fifty collective…

This validity study examined the validity of Assessment, Evaluation, and Programming System, 2nd Edition (AEPS®), a curriculum-based, authentic assessment for infants and young children. The primary purposes were to: a) examine whether the AEPS® is a concurrently valid tool for measuring young children's language, literacy and pre-math skills for…

The reporting policies across Australia are critiqued. In the Australian Capital Territory, the reporting is carried out against the goals and priorities identified in the Individual Learning Plan. Reporting in the Northern Territory is facilitated by providing a reference for communicating the level of student achievement through a standardised…

How does education affect economic and social outcomes, and how can it inform public policy? Volume 3 of the Handbooks in the Economics of Education uses newly available high quality data from around the world to address these and other core questions. With the help of new methodological approaches, contributors cover econometric methods and…

The pressing need to improve achievement in American schools is widely recognized. In "Tests, Testing, and Genuine School Reform," Herbert J. Walberg draws on scientific studies of tests and their uses to inform citizens, educators, and policy makers about well-established principles of testing, current problems, and promising evidence-based…

"Becoming an Engaged Campus" offers campus leaders a systematic and detailed approach to creating an environment where public engagement can grow and flourish. The book explains not only what to do to expand community engagement and how to do it, but it also explores how to document, evaluate, and communicate university engagement efforts. An…

This report examines publicly reported participation and performance data for the alternate assessment based on modified achievement standards (AA-MAS). The authors' analysis of these data included all states publicly reporting AA-MAS data, regardless of whether they had received approval to use the results for Title I accountability calculations.…

States confine juvenile offenders in many types of facilities, including group homes, residential treatment centers, boot camps, wilderness programs, or country-run youth facilities (some of them locked, others secured only through staff supervision). But the largest share of committed youth--about 40 percent of the total--are held in locked…

California Community Colleges are facing increased accountability while at the same time experiencing reduced and uncertain state funding. When resources are not properly allocated there is waste, public criticism, and ultimately increased oversight. A review of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) sanction letters…

In this era of accountability-by-numbers, the elevated status accorded to large-scale external assessments such as the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is symptomatic of a trend towards data-driven policy initiatives in education, and the need for regular sources of outcome data to constantly feed narrow indicators of…

First the good news. There's a growing consensus that the quality of teachers and teaching is a major factor--some would say the most important school-based factor--in the quality of student learning. In sum (and this comes as no surprise to the teaching profession), good teaching matters. The bad news is that, in this highly charged climate of…

School reform and leadership are important components of American's educational system. However, reform initiatives do not always coincide with National mandates for school districts. School leaders today are obligated by law to fulfill the mandates under the No Child Left Behind Act, but research indicates that the accountability system of No…