More than 5 years after the passage of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), California school districts continue to develop and refine strategies to act on the opportunities and expectations associated with the state's school finance system. A new project called the LCFF Test Kitchen has enabled three school districts to make progress by…

For more than a decade teacher residencies have prepared classroom-ready teachers for hard-to-staff subjects and high-need schools. Across the country, mounting evidence shows that residencies produce effective teachers who stay in the profession longer and produce greater student achievement than traditionally-trained teachers. No residency,…

In this article, the author talks about program evaluation, a strategy commonly used by instructional leaders that can help school business officials improve their budget process. As districts struggle to develop budgets in these challenging economic times, school business officials might consider turning to program evaluation for help. Program…

Given the current economic constraints facing the country, school districts in the U.S. have been pushed to develop annual budgets through a new lens and to accept the reality that budget adoption is a complex, political process. Whether a school district is rich or poor, growing or declining in enrollment, serving a specialized population or…

This report describes the APL (Accountable unit, Program, and line item) budget system, a computerized three-dimensional program budget system that has been implemented in the Cambridge (Massachusetts) School Department. Various chapters discuss the differences between traditional budgeting and program budgeting, present an overview of te APL…

Presents a general model of the structure and functioning of managed care and describes elements (provider networks, fiscal elements, risk estimation, case-mix, management information systems, practice parameters, and quality improvement) critical to people with developmental disabilities. Managed care demonstration projects and a hypothetical…

The process for a successful multimedia conversion project is examined. Topics include initial conversion discussion and decisions; questions to consider in the planning phase; avoiding problems in the beginning; working the plan and planning the design; a list of prices; and evaluating the performance. (AEF)

Discusses the events leading up to the development of the new arts education program for the Sarasota Country School District in Florida. Addresses the work of the Community/Schools Partnership for the Arts, its role in developing the arts program, and the interactions between the community and the school district. (CMK)

Addresses the Sarasota County school district's decision to eliminate the arts programs in the elementary and middle schools. Discusses the efforts by the school district in rescuing the arts in the Sarasota schools and the superintendent's idea for creating the Community/Schools Partnership for the Arts that is working for world-class arts…

Addresses the role of the professional arts community in reestablishing the arts programs in the Sarasota County's schools and their interaction with the school district. Identifies how the Arts Education Task Force, a committee of arts organizations in Sarasota County, assisted in the development of the Community/Schools Partnership for the Arts.…

This manual for youth in the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) provides an overview of the program, information about program rules and pay procedures, and tips on behavior and handling money. It consists of eleven sections. Section 1 provides a brief overview of the manual. The purpose and format of SYEP is outlined in sections 2 and 3. Work…

The strategies used by a university's new dean of continuing education to sensitize the institution to adult learning and adult students and to alert the community to the program are described. (MSE)

This paper presents proposals for improving the way the District of Columbia decides how to improve its public facilities and other infrastructure. It recommends a practical decision process that will help the District plan effectively for capital improvement, up-grade the condition, utilization, efficiency and attractiveness of its public assets,…

The role of the university in programs to stimulate economic development is examined, and the case of one such program that failed is described. Problems within the program included financial losses in large projects, corruption, widespread public criticism, and criminal convictions of two top program officers. Possible solutions, including…