Students, teachers, and school leaders are seeking flexibility and supports to enable powerful, personalized learning experiences both inside and outside of the traditional classroom. In personalized learning, instruction is tailored to each student's strengths, needs, and interests--including enabling student voice and choice in what, how, when,…

In a recent report entitled "All Together Now: Collaboration and Innovation for Youth Engagement,": the Commission on Youth Voting & Civic Knowledge concluded that civic education is a shared responsibility of schools and other institutions. Data suggests, however, that more work is required to provide all young people with the…

Preparing the next generation of Americans to engage in their communities civically and politically is a shared responsibility. Although civic education takes place every day in homes and community centers, our nation's K-12 schools are in a unique position to nurture and reinforce the civic development of all young people. States influence their…

Two decades of research have documented what now is common knowledge: no in-school factor matters more to students' educational experiences and outcomes than the effectiveness of their teacher. As a result, the national airspace is increasingly crowded with proposed reforms and initiatives designed to boost teacher performance, including new…

To inform states regarding their compliance with practices mandated by the Child Support Enforcement Amendments of 1984, this document provides a state by state analysis of the effects of the amendment on state child support laws. Information for each state is divided into two sections. The first section lists state laws that contain many or all…

This technical assistance document provides guidelines for child assessment and eligibility determination for early intervention and early childhood special education programs in Oregon. An overview of the assessment process explains screening, eligibility evaluation, and assessment for the Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP). Legal requirements…

Parent involvement in New Mexico, and around the nation, is an essential element in the success of students and their schools. This simple point anchors the federal law known as the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" ("NCLB"). NCLB establishes state, district and school requirements designed to promote more effective parent…

Among many publicly-funded school choice initiatives that have earned Florida the label "school choice central", none has reached as many children and families as charter schools. Charter schools have flourished in Florida largely because of the state's rapid population growth: many of the districts that are experiencing more than a 10…

This report contains detailed data on average salaries in the comparison institutions of the University of California and the California State University. It analyzes raw data submitted by comparison institutions for the University and State University and then provides a detailed written analysis of faculty salary parity computations. It is noted…

Oregon's Education Act for the 21st century sets academic and performance standards for all students statewide. The implementation of statewide standards entails a major change from a time-based to a standards-based educational system, and will require that all students achieve the performance standards for each curricular area. This report to the…

Evaluating the chief school administrator's performance is one of the most important responsibilities of a board of education. In New Jersey, established guidelines for board evaluations of superintendents range from legal to procedural in the attempt to meet school district goals and objectives and to assess whether the superintendency fulfilled…

Difficulties and rewards in using state assessment policy to benefit both students and the state are reviewed. The questions examined in this guide will help state policy makers know the questions they should ask about whether, what, and how well students are learning. Questions were developed from four seminars in 1989, 1990, and 1991 on…

This report addresses the issue of the differing levels of educational success experienced by college students of various racial-ethnic backgrounds, through evaluating the feasibility of developing an educational equity assessment system to provide information on perceptions of California campus climate. The report examines the nature of campus…

The report documents the first stage of an 18-month study to determine the effectiveness of existing California legislation for identification of 3- to 5-year old children with special needs. Local service sites (N=112) responded to a questionnaire which addressed implementation of eligibility criteria at local sites, improvement of the…

A process policy model that contains a broad range of categories and matrices that can be used to generate questions is used to analyze the development and application of selected segments of the South Carolina Educator Improvement Act. This act is a comprehensive legislative endeavor to upgrade public education in South Carolina. This paper…