The "K-12 Guidelines for English Language Proficiency" were developed as a supplement to the Nebraska State Standards. All English Language Learner (ELL) students are required by the Nebraska Department of Education to meet or exceed the Nebraska State Standards (LEARNS) or district approved standards. These guidelines present districts, content…

This Teacher Quality Toolkit aims to support the continuum of teacher learning by providing tools that institutions of higher education, districts, and schools can use to improve both preservice and inservice teacher education. The toolkit incorporates McREL?s accumulated knowledge and experience related to teacher quality and standards-based…

This two-phase proportionate review model is linked to the revised quality framework for Scottish FE (further education) colleges that was published on the SFEFC (Scottish Further Education Funding Council) and HMIE (Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education) websites on 28 May 2004. The previous version of the framework had enjoyed a high level of…

Issues that dominate debate about teacher education--teacher supply and demand, quality of college programs, and academic standards--may not be at the heart of the problem. The author argues for extended teacher education programs and increased public support for teacher salaries and college programs. (PP)

This article reports on the National School Boards Association Convention (April 1983, San Francisco, California). Presentations centered on school children's mental health, board relations with teachers and administrators, academic standards, student discipline, merit pay and competency testing, and financial problems. (PP)

A sample of 1,731 North Carolina high school students who initially failed the state Competency Test registered improvements on subsequent reexaminations. The gains were apparently stable and related more to in-school factors than to individual background characteristics. (Author/PN)

The mastery approach was taken with physical education majors at the sophomore level. The approach was based on several considerations which included the achievement of a minimum competency level. The students were allowed to select one of three options to achieve this level. (JN)

The author contends that limiting instructional innovation and upgrading academic standards will benefit both high-risk and traditional community college students. He presents results from instructor surveys and studies favoring the more traditional teaching, grading, and testing methods and includes suggestions for improving study skills and…

Ten departments with high grade inflation rates during a seven-year period were compared with 10 departments within the same university displaying lower grade inflation rates. Higher grade inflation rates were related to perceived increases in the demands placed upon the academicians' role. (Author/MLW)

A superintendent reports on the massive, communitywide effort to improve education in Atlanta, Georgia. The goal was to raise student reading and math skills to above national norms by 1985. Preliminary findings show significant progress towards reaching those goals. For journal availability, see SO 509 295. (AM)

Ideas for improving quality, which evolved from a survey conducted for the National Commission on Higher Education Issues, are presented. Suggestions are given for retaining public confidence in higher education, improving accreditation practices, strengthening faculty and institutional performance, improving students' intellectual motivation, and…

The author explores the tension between the courts' inability to establish judicially enforceable measures of equal opportunity in education and the moral force that the right to education exercises over the liberal imagination, and he suggests legal avenues for resolution of the dilemma. (Editor)

The author proposes content and learning experiences for an effective introductory course to education. (SJL)

Cut-off scores from two approaches for setting standards are examined. Standards determined from judgments about groups and from inspection of test content are compared. Results indicate that there was neither consistency nor pattern to cut-off scores set from the two procedures. (Author/RD)

Emphasizes the need for a full integration of continuing education and community services with the academic programs of a college. Discusses political and fiscal pressures and faculty-administrator relations, which affect standards of excellence and the mission of service and scholarship. (SK)