Three papers are presented on the benefits and costs of providing supported employment programs in Illinois for persons with disabilities. An introductory section, by Ronald W. Conley, explains the need for and use of cost-benefit analysis, the population in need of supported employment, and some methodological considerations. The three papers…

Six papers discuss the Louisiana School Effectiveness and Assistance Pilot (SEAP) program, an ongoing 3-year research project associated with a legislatively mandated school and district accountability program. In three phases, the project joins school indicators, school effectiveness, and school improvement initiatives. The following papers are…

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) has challenged test developers to create a voluntary program of certification in which highly accomplished teachers receive recognition for meeting rigorous standards. These four papers report the experiences of teacher-candidates, school district administrators, researchers, and test…

Eight articles on international educational indicators (IEIs) are presented. Topics include functions and limitations of IEIs; science and math indicators and national welfare; higher education indicators; cost and resource indicators; and national perspectives from the United States, Australia, France, and England and Wales. (TJH)

The monograph presents preliminary results from 27 states that received systems change model demonstration funds from the U.S. Rehabilitation Services Administration in 1986 and 1987. These funds were targeted to modify existing adult day programs for persons with severe disabilities and provide supported employment programs as alternative…

These discussions of performance-based student assessment provide a record of a decade-long exploration of unsettled issues in assessment. The first section provides the elements of a basic rationale for performance-based assessment, while the second section contains accounts of efforts to develop new performance-based systems in one city and four…

The nature of educational evaluation and its interaction with policy in six state departments of education is examined. Case reports of research and evaluation units are presented for Virginia (by Gerald W. Bracey), Michigan (by David L. Donovan and Stanley A. Rumbaugh), Washington (by Alfred F. Rasp, Jr.), South Carolina (by Paul D. Sandifer),…

The perspectives in these essays present an examination of the Kentucky educational reform effort, with an examination of its rationale, various facets, and the reactions to its implementation. The ambitious assessment system includes multiple-choice and open-ended items, performance tasks, and portfolio assessments. The following are included:…

Presentations of panelists at one in a series of monthly seminars on Family Centered Social Policy are summarized. The first panelist, Maria E. Enchautegui, began with a statistical overview of Latino poverty and then highlighted data for subgroups. Mirien Uriarte presented findings from her study on the experiences of Latinas in the Massachusetts…

This final report describes the accomplishments and activities of a 5-year federally funded California systems change project supporting the development and replication of inclusive schools as part of the state's movement to provide the least restrictive educational environment for all students with severe disabilities. The project was a…

Seven papers discussing practical strategies and examples for designing and implementing inclusive educational programs for Minnesota public schools are presented. The papers include: (1) "Strategies for Achieving an Integrated Education for Middle School Learners with Severe Disabilities" (Jennifer York and Terri Vandercook); (2)…

This document contains the reports on audits of the one-stop systems in California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Vermont. The overall audit conclusions were as follows: (1) the states have made substantial efforts toward forming new comprehensive workforce investment systems as mandated by the Workforce Investment Act (WIA); (2)…

Seven papers examine key minority populations that are encompassed in local, state, and federal levels of health program planning. The papers are based on methods of evaluation and planning. Projections on the future course of minority health programing are presented. (SLD)

Measuring History complements the cases presented in Wise Social Studies Practices (Yeager & Davis, 2005). Yeager and Davis highlight the rich and ambitious teaching that can occur in the broad context of state-level testing. In this book, the chapter authors and I bring the particular state history tests more to the fore and examine how…