Introduction: Mentoring is valuable for the retention of new teachers. This article describes a model statewide mentor program for new itinerant vision professionals who work with students from birth to age 22. The results of a recent survey of satisfaction are reported, along with implications for the field. Methods: The proteges who participated…

This study presents an empirically-based statewide system that links information about pre-kindergarten programs with children's school readiness scores to certify pre-kindergarten classrooms as promoting school readiness. Over 8,000 children from 1,255 pre-kindergarten classrooms were followed longitudinally for one year. Pre-kindergarten quality…

The state's Race to the Top (RTT) application requires changes to the state's evaluation/accountability system. It requires a teacher effectiveness measure, district effectiveness measure, leader effectiveness measure. Regarding the teacher effectiveness measure, RTT requires linking the data of individual students to individual teachers as part…

Because of the importance of developing highly skilled school leaders, statewide assessments of 784 Texas public school administrators were compared to determine how leadership skills varied by type of campus (urban, suburban and rural) and by campus student achievement ratings. Important findings indicate differences exist by campus type and by…

Environmental agencies in most states have an environmental education Web page that can point geography teachers to a variety of opportunities and resources to enhance their teaching. Most states provide linkages to local and national programs such as Project WET and Project WILD, and access to lesson plans and other teaching materials. A number…

Because of the importance of developing highly skilled urban school leaders, statewide assessments of 248 urban Texas public school administrators were analyzed to determine principal confidence levels in leadership skill domains identified by the National Policy Board of Educational Administration (NPBEA). Important findings indicate differences…

Because of the importance of developing highly skilled rural school leaders, statewide assessments of 259 rural Texas public school administrators were analyzed to determine principal confidence levels in leadership skill domains identified by the National Policy Board of Educational Administration (NPBEA). Important findings indicate differences…

This report outlines the major themes of the 2000 annual conference of the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST), which focused on educational accountability in the 21st century. The conference opened with a panel presentation on the Texas accountability system. This session included a presentation by one of…

A recent report published by the National Center on Performance Incentives (NCPI) presents findings from the first-year evaluation of the Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG) program, one of several statewide educator incentive programs in Texas. Findings are based on the responses of full-time instructional personnel at over 1,000 TEEG schools…

Under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), all public school districts, campuses, and the state are evaluated annually for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). The Texas AYP plan meets the requirements of the NCLB, maintains the integrity of the Texas assessment program, and provides a mechanism for evaluating district and campus AYP in 2003. Following…

This teacher orientation manual has been developed as a comprehensive resource for teachers in Texas to facilitate a greater knowledge and understanding of the Texas Teacher Appraisal System (TTAS), designed as a developmental tool for the improvement of instruction, and the encouragement of professional growth. Through this system, teachers…

A demonstration project was conducted in 1975-76 at three locations in Texas to show the effectiveness of the Texas Telecomputer Grid (TTG) as a teaching method in bilingual career education. (TTG is a system designed to connect regional concentrations of computer and television resources by microwaves to transmit televised programs, computer…

A comparative evaluation methodology for vocational-technical education programs offered at public community colleges in Texas is described in this study. Evaluation concepts, design and methodology for comparative evaluation, trial of the comparative rating scale model, and feedback loop with recommendations for revision are presented. The…

Includes four articles that discuss evaluation methods for information management systems under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; building digital libraries at the University of California San Francisco's Tobacco Control Archives; IFLA's Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records; and designing the Texas email repository model…

A study compared the effects of different methods of analyzing trends to illustrate how failure to account for change in classification will lead to misinterpretation of data on the performance of students with disabilities. Data from five years of assessment in Texas is used to illustrate effects of classification changes. (Contains references.)…