The National Center on Accessible Educational Materials for Learning (National AEM Center) at CAST is a technical assistance (TA) center funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP). The purpose of the Center is to improve educational and employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities through…

The education system in California today is unable to meet the needs of the state's economy or the expectations of its citizens. From school finance to ensuring the quality of teaching, from assessment and accountability to preparing students for college and careers, education policy today in California often works against the best interests of…

This book describes the rationale and research underlying the testing of an "audit" that explored how school districts organize themselves to reform middle-grades education. The volume is intended for those who seek to improve achievement, equity, and learning communities. Section 1 describes the theory, research, and framework for district…

Schools and school systems will improve their chances of making a good choice of school reform program if they determine: (1) the program's goals and objectives; (2) the program's research base; and (3) the resources, in terms of money and human effort, required to make the program work. (SLD)

This booklet is designed to assist state leaders as they develop their process for allocating funds to schools. It suggests components of a state-allocation process that are based on research and field experience with successfully implemented comprehensive school-reform (CSR) models. The document provides guidelines for defining the eligibility of…

This paper presents strategies for designing and implementing new and more effective approaches to school-finance structures. The first section discusses state school-finance systems, their inadequacies, and how they have changed dramatically in several states. It explores how varieties of standard school-finance formulas may actually exacerbate…

To function well, every system has to fully understand and manage its resources. Mapping is a first step toward enhancing essential understanding, and done properly, it is a major intervention in the process of moving forward with enhancing systemic effectiveness. In schools and community agencies, there is redundancy stemming from ill-conceived…

A discussion of the changing economic climate for higher education looks at college costs in relation to other economic indicators, higher education costs in other countries, and hypothetical changes in spending and productivity in the next few decades. It is concluded that while the situation looks bleak, reconception of practices and…

As distance learning brings changes to traditional higher-education institutions and creates new educational providers, the college or university governing board must reexamine issues of institutional purpose, quality, and finance. Outlines questions for boards to ask, and cites a study of current institutional response to trends in distance…

Even with all the external elements of school reform in place, educators can end up spinning their wheels. To make progress, schools must identify the nonnegotiable key elements of their reform plans and use the habits of highly effective schools to turn them into school practice. These habits are: (1) demonstrate high expectations and a vision…

Describes an eight-step integrated school district strategy for individual school reform that makes the pursuit of greater school equity, accountability, and efficiency a mutually supporting, goal-oriented activity capable of facilitating student academic excellence. Discusses how districts and schools can benefit from this and emphasizes steps to…

This book is about resource-based learning, a means by which educators can teach their students to be lifelong learners. The eight chapters contain information to help students learn how to find, process, and evaluate the information they need to handle the task at hand: (1) "Surviving in an Information Age" examines the information…

This annotated directory provides practitioners and service providers with references to existing programs, tools, and resources that school improvement teams may use to design and implement projects. The directory draws on a variety of products developed or used by state departments of education, school districts, regional educational…

In this essay, the author calls attention to a little-studied but critical aspect of school system reform: the nontransparent and sometimes illogical ways school districts allocate funds and personnel, especially teachers. Drawing on a series of studies produced by his Center for Reinventing Public Education, the author asserts that mayors who…

This journal issue gathers together several articles on teaching with technology, with special focus on teaching of gifted students in California. "Computers and Creativity: Tools, Tasks, and Possibilities" (Bernard J. Dodge) discusses how teachers can establish an environment that will nurture creativity through use of computers.…