The historic $3 billion investment in the California Community Schools Partnership Program provides an opportunity to transform schools into community hubs that deliver a whole child education. This brief examines key elements of the new law. It then lays out evidence-based principles of high-quality community schools implementation that are…

This article probes ways in which the school-choice marketplace as it developed via chartering has not worked as well in practice as many had hoped. It includes reflection on the profoundly different operating principles and theories of action that separate the district and charter sectors in their pure forms. It also offers market-strengthening…

Top-down accountability policies have arguably had very limited impact over the past 20 years. Education stakeholders are now contemplating new forms of bottom-up accountability. In 2013, policymakers in California enacted a community-based approach that creates the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) process for school finance to increase…

Analyzes state statutes to determine which legislation mandating school reform had been enacted between 1987 and 1992. Findings suggest that the plethora of legislation will probably continue, that community involvement in education will probably expand, and that educators should prepare themselves for redefined educational goals and restructured…

The author looks at the future of vocational school psychology and examines the determinants that will have variable influence on role and function in the years ahead. These determinants include: district demands and expectations, district's perception of its needs, community response to service, and desired functions of the school psychologist.…

Recounts a Pennsylvania community's reluctance and eventual approval of a new charter school. Considers political forces from a systems-design perspective; highlights the community involvement process as expressed in public hearings. Discusses reasons for resistance and legislative incentives to overcome it. Makes legislative recommendations. (MLH)

This report reviews the opinions of the National Education Association (NEA) and the approaches taken by and concerns of employee associations that are state affiliates of the NEA. The NEA supports the concept of charters if appropriate standards are upheld and appropriate practices are enforced. The energy and enthusiasm being brought to the…

The current accountability movement in education is examined in terms of its historical antecedents and federal versus state initiatives and requirements. The assumptions underlying the educational accountability movement are then considered, and refinements and extensions to these assumptions are proposed. The accountability movement in American…

This paper presents an historical study of the creation of the first publicly funded "colored school" in Marysville, California, in 1857, focusing on the community's efforts to open the school. The colored school was part of a dynamic Black community full of economic and social vitality, yet was in a time period in which Blacks still…

South Carolina's Education Improvement Act (EIA) of 1984 was a comprehensive piece of reform legislation providing for 60 new educational policies and programs. These new activities were funded by a one-cent increase in the state sales tax. The Act requires annual reports that present information concerning the benefits of EIA, provide additional…

Data for this review of Alberta, Canada's School Act by the Policy Advisory Committee for the School Act Review, included 200 written submissions from members of the public, community groups, and educational groups; oral presentations by 23 groups; discussion by committee members and others at 20 locations within Alberta; and the results of a…

From 1990 to 2000, a qualitative study of the implementation of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) was conducted in four small rural school districts in Kentucky. KERA reflects key components of what would later be termed "systemic reform": a unifying set of goals that all students must attain, a coherent system of instructional…

To help make school districts more accountable without resorting to minimum competency testing, the Minnesota legislature in 1976 passed a law requiring the state's 434 districts to prepare annual planning and evaluation reports (PERs). The PER law obliges districts to develop educational policies and review them annually; create an instructional…

In 1989, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that Kentucky's education system was unconstitutional and invalidated the entire body of school law. In response, the General Assembly passed the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA), a completely new educational system. This report upon the 10th anniversary of KERA's passage documents how key…

This assessment of the second year of the South Carolina Education Improvement Act of 1984 presents an analysis of information in six areas important to improving education. This trend information can be used to determine whether proposed benefits of the act are being realized. The first chapter reviews trends in student test scores and other…