"Scale Up in Education, Volume 1: Ideas in Principle" examines the challenges of "scaling up" from a multidisciplinary perspective. It brings together contributions from disciplines that routinely take promising innovations to scale, including medicine, business, engineering, computing, and education. Together the contributors explore appropriate…

This paper reports the creation, implementation, and discontinuation of a standards based spelling assessment program in Anchorage, Alaska. The program was initiated by the Anchorage school board as part of establishing district-wide performance goals for students in 1998-1999. Spelling was singled out for attention because of national discussions…

Mapping for Success: Mapping and Aligning the Curriculum To Improve Student Learning, A Guide for Facilitators serves as both a training manual for future mapping facilitators and a facilitator?s primary resource for implementing the mapping process in a school. In the mapping process, teachers outline, analyze, and change a school?s curriculum…

Local practitioners and state policymakers are focused on implementing the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (P.L. 107-110), which in 2001 reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). At the same time, federal policymakers are working to help educators meet both the letter and the spirit of the law: to ensure that no child,…

This policy brief reviews the evolution of comprehensive school reform (CSR) and the development of CSR models, describes the AEL-CREP (Center for Research in Educational Policy) research project and its findings, and discusses policy implications. Over the past 2 decades, CSR has evolved from theory to pilot project to mandate to widespread…

With a continuing emphasis on improving student reading achievement across the nation, many elementary educators are exploring the idea of initiating a volunteer reading tutoring program. Although individuals associated with tutoring programs may think about implementation issues, often the focus is on program location, the recruitment and…

This digest discusses reform in U. S. higher education. There have been many reforms in higher education in the United States, and they have been well-documented. Two profiles of recent reform initiatives are offered. One is that of student assessment, a reform movement active since the 1980s that presses all colleges and universities to measure…

This paper from the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges is a chronological summary of the legislation and regulations adopted from 1987-1990, which govern basic skills instruction in the community colleges. The Seymour Campbell Matriculation Act of 1986 directs the Chancellor to develop a funding formula for matriculation, and…

To collect baseline data about how K-12 standards were being implemented in North Dakota, a standards implementation survey was sent electronically to all school plants and to curriculum leaders across the state in the spring of 2002. Responses were received from 253 teachers, administrators, and curriculum coordinators representing approximately…

One requirement of The California Children and Families First Act (Proposition 10) is "to facilitate the creation and implementation of an integrated, comprehensive, and collaborative system of information and services to enhance optimal early childhood development." This report provides policymakers and others with working information…

Nearly every state is engaged in what is generally being called standards-based reform, the development of statewide academic goals and guidelines in core subjects, with new state tests that will measure students progress toward these goals. The first chapter of this report describes how the Study Group on Statewide Assessment of the National…

This book describes the development of a new elementary mathematics curriculum called "Investigations in Number, Data, and Space". The book has practical suggestions and is aimed at helping educators who are implementing curricula such as Investigations. Chapter titles include: (1) "Teaching Children Mathematics"; (2) "The Jobs of a Mathematics…

Forms of evaluation that involve evaluators working collaboratively with practitioners on applied social research projects are becoming increasingly common, but a body of empirical literature that warrants firm conclusions about collaborative evaluation has not yet been accumulated. This survey studies the views of evaluators and program…

This report is part of a two-volume publication that outlines the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) 5-year plan. The plan was developed in 1995 to transform education in DoD schools and is based on the vision that the DoDEA will be a learner-centered organization, unbound by traditional school concepts of time, location, and age…

This document contains revised policy and guidelines for the external evaluation of new graduate-level programs in the Oregon University System. Each institution in the Oregon University System that requests a new graduate-level or graduate degree program or a significant new option within an existing graduate program must complete an external…