Early childhood education and care (ECEC) -- the phase before primary education -- is increasingly acknowledged as providing the foundations for lifelong learning and development. This second edition of 'Key data on early childhood education and care in Europe' charts the progress made in the key quality areas identified in the Council…

Over the past decade, Ohio has made important education policy advances, with a focus on student learning and achievement, standards, and accountability. Ohio is serious about its commitment to quality schools and honors this commitment by providing Local Education Agencies (LEAs) a research-based, transparent, fair teacher evaluation system…

The Department of Education (Education) created Race to The Top (RTT) under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to provide incentives for states to reform K-12 education in areas such as improving the lowest performing schools and developing effective teachers and leaders. In 2010, Education awarded 12 states nearly $4 billion in…

The Early Childhood Educator Survey and the Early Childhood Administrator Survey allow users to collect consistent data on the use of child assessments and learning standards in early childhood learning settings. Each survey includes modules on educator/administrator background information, assessment use, and learning standards implementation.…

The Office of Planning and Institutional Research (OPAIR), at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus was asked to undertake an analysis of student throughput rates as part of a University-wide initiative involving the three campuses. Each Campus was provided with a template and guidelines for reporting the data. The exercise was intended…

Some states are developing alternate assessments based on modified achievement standards (AA-MAS) to measure the academic achievement of some students with disabilities (Albus, Lazarus, Thurlow, & Cormier, 2009; Lazarus, Thurlow, Christensen, & Cormier, 2007). These assessments measure the same content as the general assessment for a given…

Small businesses account for the great majority of businesses and half the private sector employment in Australia, but only one third provide structured training for their employees. This study, a systematic review of existing research, set out to find clear evidence of intervention strategies that meet small business needs in relation to the…

Four papers focus on implementation of protection in evaluation procedures (PEP) specified in P.L. 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. Each of the authors commissioned to develop guidelines in PEP are represented: Reginald Jones ("Protection in Evaluation Procedures: Criteria and Recommendations"); Jane Mercer…

This report is a summary of a March 1994 meeting to agree on guidelines for making inclusion and accommodation decisions concerning students with disabilities in national and state large-scale assessments. Much of the discussion at the meeting focused on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Factors that lead to the exclusion of…

This manual provides suggestions for implementing a school improvement process using selected program and content areas from the Michigan State Board of Education-approved K-12 Program Standards of Quality. The suggestions were made by school district staffs that took part in the field test of the document during the 1983-84 school year. The first…

The purpose of this document is to provide a guide for education technology planning. A state educational technology plan is a written strategy that outlines the way a state proposes to integrate educational technology into its overall educational goals. The report has been divided into three categories: preparing, writing, and evaluating. Stage…

Provides a detailed guide to preparing library budgets and describes several types of budgets. Steps to preparing a final document are outlined, including identifying objectives, assessing and prioritizing needs, data collection and analysis, presentation to the funding agency, and evaluation and monitoring of the final budget. (CLB)

The purpose of this document is to assist members of the North Carolina Professional Practices Commission in the development of guidelines for teacher evaluation. The paper reviews the historical development of teacher performance appraisal and the implementation of the Teacher Performance Appraisal Instrument (TPAI) starting in the mid-1980s.…

This report synthesizes information from many sources about state and local Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) evaluation activities and issues. The report's five sections are interrelated, but each can stand alone as a discussion piece on JTPA evaluation. The first section, on the role of evaluation in JTPA, outlines the rationale for doing…

This statement summarizes the results of a 2-year study on assessing long distance learning by telecommunications. Supported by a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, the study focused on the rapid development and use of telecommunications to offer postsecondary education, and the need to ensure the quality and…