This book examines the factors affecting the successful implementation of Education Sector Plans in developing countries. It provides a detailed comparison that draws on data from 27 countries to offer careful research conclusions and policy recommendations. Offering a detailed comparison of the schooling situation (e.g. availability of potable…

For the first time, researchers, policymakers and practitioners across the world will have access to a comprehensive mapping of research evidence and policy strategies about education and poverty in affluent countries. Although there is widespread agreement that poverty and poor educational outcomes are related, there are competing explanations as…

After implementing changes in language arts instruction, the principal--who is in a key position to sustain or institutionalize the changes--faces several responsibilities. Factors involved in directing innovations to become "built in" to school programs include solving specific problems, sharing decision-making responsibilities, upgrading and…

The fourth volume of a 10-volume report, this document provides a synthesis and analysis of indepth ethnographic case studies of 12 school districts engaged in school improvement efforts in a subsample of the study's 146 districts. All districts were implementing new practices, seven using National Diffusion Network innovations and five developing…

Focusing on 67 studies written since 1970, this report reviews the literature on the topic of school effectiveness to discover those characteristics most in evidence in effective schools and classrooms. Research on effective schools has concentrated on such topics as school climate, the role of leadership, students' preschool experiences, and…

Quality measures were originally developed for research aimed at describing the settings that children spend time in and identifying the characteristics of these environments that contribute to children's development. They were also developed to guide improvements in practice. Increasingly, however, measures of quality are being used for further…

This report assesses the effectiveness of the Napa County (California) Instructional Skills Staff Development Program, focusing on its impact on student achievement and student engaged rate in classrooms. The program, providing training for teachers and principals in administrative and instructional skills, is examined for outcomes in two schools,…

Purposes of this study were: (1) to examine patterns of implementation of an innovative educational program with a built-in staff development component over a period of three years; (2) to compare patterns of implementation of the Adaptive Learning Environments Model's (ALEM) three types of teaching skills, including generic, adaptive, and program…

A case study was done of the Boston University management and operation of the Chelsea (Massachusetts) school system including perceptions of key participants and outcomes of the first year of the partnership. Despite unanticipated levels of hostility between various groups and slow funding, which slowed some first year objectives, the project…

Part of a 3-year study of the Chapter 1 Neglected or Delinquent (Chapter 1 N or D) Program providing compensatory education services to youths in state-operated juvenile and adult correctional facilities, this report presents case studies of nine facilities that have developed particularly effective programs. The study used teacher questionnaires,…

While conventional schooling may be successful for many youth, it is problematic for those who are at risk. Conventional schooling assumes the following: (1) all students can derive meaning from a complex and fragmented array of academic courses; (2) all students recognize or can construct a congruence between schooling and their lives; (3)…

To broaden the scope of effective schools research by including change processes and a wider unit of study, this project investigated three Georgia school districts demonstrating improvements in student achievement for three consecutive years. Research identified these elements: (1) the sequence and influence of events, factors, and people…

Included in this summary analysis of three journal articles and two documents on teacher evaluation are reports that touch on difficulties facing school officials in developing a teacher evaluation system and suggestions for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of an evaluation system. The first article, by Susan S. Stodolsky, challenges…

This book, which is intended for practitioners and researchers engaged in education, presents a comprehensive account and analysis of the major initiatives and programs developed by the Asia and Pacific Programme of Education for All (APPEAL), which was established by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization to promote…