This report completes phase 1 of a study of the school choice issue, by summarizing information regarding school choice options currently proposed or implemented in Virginia and other states. Methodology involved: (1) a survey of 127 out of 135 total school divisions; (2) a literature review; (3) interviews with school division personnel, other…

Implementation of competency-based education in Virginia career exploration and preparation programs has served as the basis for establishment of a paradigm for statewide implementation. Competency-based education in Virginia is defined as educational programs with required knowledges, skills, and attitudes based on role-relevant competencies and…

This study had two broad goals: to discuss state politics and accountability policies in Virginia and Georgia before the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and to analyze the civil rights implications of NCLB's accountability requirements for future policy decisions. Part 1 describes previous policies and governance arrangements and how these factors…

This brief is based on the 61-page report of the same name. This paper, commissioned by the Brookings Institution, studies the emergence of the mixed delivery model, in which pre-kindergarten is delivered in community-based settings and schools. It describes findings of a state survey CLASP conducted to understand the policy choices,…

This review examined the evaluation components from 10 awarded state improvement grants designed to improve systems providing services for students with disabilities. The review examined the following aspects of the evaluation components: purposes, conceptual framework for the evaluation and systems reform, evaluation design and approaches,…

In 1998, the Stanford Achievement Test Series, Ninth Edition, Form TA (Stanford 9) was administered to Virginia students in grades 4, 6, and 9 as the norm-referenced component of the Virginia State Assessment Program. As in the previous year, from 93 to 96% of Virginia's students took the Stanford 9, although the first administration was taken by…

The extent to which current staff development mechanisms in Virginia meet adult basic education (ABE) teachers' needs for skill and knowledge development was the focus of an evaluation. (The state's staff development mechanisms were identified as a centralized resource center, a regionalized training program, a centralized annual conference, and a…

To fulfill an agreement with the 1992 General Assembly, the Virginia Department of Education conducted a study during the fall and winter of 1992-93 of school divisions' implementation of their Family Life Education (FLE) programs. The program was to provide comprehensive, age-appropriate, and sequential instruction in 10 specified content areas…

This report presents a conceptual and structural framework for adult education staff development in Virginia. It recommends to Virginia adult educators and policymakers a set of structures to support staff development activities and then offers a philosophy to guide activities within those structures. The report first traces 2 years of a staff…

This report describes an instructional package designed to replace a set of unsatisfactory textbooks used to teach State history, government, and geography to 4th-, 7th-, 11th-, and 12th-grade students in Virginia. The format of the package, taking what is described as the "inquiry approach", revolves around a series of short television…

The report summarizes findings and recommendations of a Virginia Department of Education Task Force concerning the establishment of comprehensive hearing screening programs in Virginia's public schools. Special emphasis was on findings of Project HEAR (Hearing Education and Resources) which found that mass hearing screenings could be conducted in…

This report presents an overview of the vocational education delivery systems assisted under the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act and the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) in Virginia. For the Perkins Act, the report reviews the purpose, delivery system, and the implementation of vocational education (enrollments, quality of programs for…

A subcommittee report introduces the subject of these joint hearings--the problem of infant mortality in the United States; addresses the need for the legislation; summarizes the proposed legislation; and lists endorsing organizations. The hearings examine both the scope of the problem and S. 1209, legislation to create a national commission to…

Abstracts of 24 exemplary vocational guidance projects funded in the Commonwealth of Virginia through Title II (Vocational Education) of Public Law 94-482 are provided, with descriptions of the 12 projects designed to increase sex equity in vocational guidance and vocational education programs, and the 12 projects designed to encourage…

To develop a plan for competency based industrial arts curriculum in Virginia, three objectives were set: (1) to survey competency based curriculum developments in other states and prepare a catalog format; (2) to plan and coordinate a competency based curriculum planning conference; and (3) to specify procedures for completing catalogs for…