Describes two projects featuring problem-oriented lessons and assignments. The Gallatin (Tennessee) High School Interdisciplinary Project was a four-year case study that investigated students' ability to make connections with their societal and school curriculum using self-selected cases, videodiscs, and literature. "Explorers of the…

This mixed-methods study focuses on school improvement planning in middle schools in east Tennessee. Utilizing the improvement plans of 17 middle schools and surveys that were administered to 493 teachers and 35 administrators, this study found that there was (A) an overemphasis on academic goals, (B) an overreliance on the use of…

The State Agency for Title I in Tennessee completed a demonstration research project on the identification of community needs in the state in 1966. It was the purpose of this project to demonstrate at least two things: (1) a means of identifying community problems, (2) a method of opening channels of communication between professionals and lay…

The transition into high school is a critical point in the educational pipeline, and ninth-grade can be characterized as one of its leakiest junctures. This policy brief examines how some states and districts are currently easing the transition into high school for students. It focuses on five key challenges that states, districts and schools…

Chapter 740 of the Public Acts of 1988 mandated that student needs assessments are to be conducted annually. Needs assessment may be defined as a process for idenitfying the gaps between educational goals (outcomes) established for students and students' actual performance. Whether goals and objectives are explicit or implicit, they play a…

Accurately estimating the number of female high school administrators is difficult because (1) comprehensive studies by individual position are nonexistent; (2) most state departments of education do not collect or report such data; (3) limited samples are used in studies; and (4) researchers and reporters tend to aggregate positions. Researchers…

Schools and districts rarely have a fair distribution of teacher talent. Poor children and black children are less likely to be taught by the strongest teachers and more likely to be taught by the weakest. Several districts have implemented programs to reduce the teacher quality gap. Hamilton County, Tennessee, launched an initiative that included…

A study investigated the rationale of and procedures for gathering data on foreign language programs in secondary schools in Tennessee. The study transcends previous foreign language surveys by suggesting a method of presenting data in a useful format by analyzing foreign language support (FLSPT) in terms of quantifiable factors or "favorable…

This study analyzes the cost effectiveness of a telephone survey, using data collected from a survey of 110 Tennessee public school superintendents. The subject of the survey was the status and need for elementary guidance. A telephone survey approach was selected based on time and cost factors, since information had to be completed in the…

This study describes (a) potential mathematics education leaders' professional development experiences, awareness, beliefs, and attitudes and (b) the subsequent changes in these constructs as they participated in a leadership development program. The context of the professional development was a three-week institute and a year-long follow-up. The…

This report provides background and linkages necessary to bring state-level experiences of reporting graduation rate statistics to bear in implementing the Student Right-to-Know Act particularly regarding the reporting of student persistence and graduation rates at institutions of higher education. Section I provides: (1) an overview of the extent…

This report of an exploratory study of Adult Basic Education (ABE) gives a brief summary of background and methodology and represents findings about students and teachers in Shelby County, Tennessee. For the students 41 findings are reported relating to age, sex, race, marital status, years of schooling completed, employment, income, life style,…

Focusing primarily on the role of educational leaders, this document analyzes what makes a difference in school learning. After a brief review of literature on the relationship between administrative leadership and student learning, aspects of the Far West Laboratory Instructional Leadership Model (the FWL model) used in the current analyses are…

This publication is the second step in the on-going, continual monitoring and evaluation survey study of Tennessee's Adult Basic Education (ABE) programs; the first was the publication of "Data Tables for the 1969 Evaluation Survey of Tennessee Adult Basic Education programs." The document is divided into six chapters. The first presents…

Guidance task performance data from 303 secondary vocational teachers and 265 secondary guidance counselors in Tennessee were collected through a mail survey. Results showed vocational teachers perform tasks (appraising, consulting, counseling, presenting educational and occupational information, and placing graduates) to a higher degree than do…