Legislation passed during the 2001 Iowa legislative session established the Student Achievement and Teacher Quality Program, Iowa Code Section 284.12(1). This legislation requires the Iowa Department of Education (DE) to annually report the statewide progress on the following: (1) Student achievement scores in mathematics and reading at the fourth…

American public education faces increasing pressure to demonstrate the competence of all of its students as they progress through the grades and, especially, as students exit their high schools. In response, policymakers are developing sophisticated accountability and support systems in efforts to steer schools toward improved performance. These…

The Faces of the Future Survey is the first national survey developed to examine the lives and experiences of credit and noncredit community college students. This report summarizes survey findings on the demographic characteristics, goals, and college experiences of the nation's first-generation community college students who are enrolled in…

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has employed its Fast Response Survey System (FRSS) to track access to information technology in schools and classrooms since 1994. This report presents key findings from the 2005 FRSS survey on Internet access in U.S. public schools and selected comparisons with data from previous FRSS…

Teaching with Technology (TWT) is a multi-year development program for Idaho teachers, funded and developed by the J.A. and Kathryn Alberston Foundation. TWT is a complement to the Opportunity 1 initiative that made educational technology available to Idaho schools. TWT provides intensive summer training workshops and offers support to teachers…

From the mission, several principles were developed to guide the School-Based Management and Accountability Program (the ABCs). (1) The ABCs sets standards for student performance and growth in the basics that are the foundation for further learning and achievement; (2) The accountability system in the ABCs plan is designed to result in improved…

The Pacific Communities with High-performance in Literacy Development (Pacific CHILD) Professional Development Model research project was initiated in response to an overwhelming need in PREL's Pacific service region for improvement of teachers' knowledge and instructional practices in early reading. This report examines the question of the…

The purpose of this study was to determine how principals spend their time and to test a new structure using business management trained staff to increase principal time spent on academic achievement and gap closure. Twenty-one elementary school principals were randomly selected for a week-long time-task analysis. Data collectors shadowed the…

This report presents data on the demographic and employment characteristics of the nation's doctoral scientists and engineers. Data were developed as part of the Longitudinal Doctorate Project. Current information on the supply and utilization of doctoral personnel in science and engineering reflects the results of the 1997 Survey of Doctorate…

A study examined the participation of K-12 teachers from an urban school district in ongoing reform efforts, initiated under Massachusetts' 1993 Education Reform Act. The study's purpose was to identify the initial factors underlying changes in teacher attitudes, factors encouraging use of a new educational model, and the impact of reforms on…

The Accelerated Schools Project is an approach to school change, designed to improve schooling for all children, in particular, for "at-risk" students. In 1997, four accelerated elementary schools associated with Florida A&M University identified reading achievement across all grade levels as their major challenge. Using the…

This report was created with the goal of showing how California Community College districts have been using their funds from the Partnership For Excellence during the 2002-03 fiscal year. The report is based upon the individual findings of 108 colleges which was gathered through an online survey that asked each district to report data on the…

This report, the fifth in a series from the spring 1998 national survey, "Teaching, Learning, and Computing," provides a framework for defining the various dimensions of technology support. Research has shown that teachers lack adequate support for the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). In this report, the term…

This study provides a background analysis of the current situation in the Slovak Republic in terms of employment, employment policy institutions, and employment policy delivery mechanisms, with special attention to their preparedness for meaningful participation in the European Union (EU) employment coordination process. The study was based…

Based on nearly 500 interviews and qualitative case studies of families in inner-city Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), this book reveals how parents and their teenage children managed different levels of resources and dangers in low-income neighborhoods and how families and communities contributed to the development of the children. The chapters are:…