This issue of the quarterly newsletter of the Institute for Research on Educational Finance and Governance contains five articles summarizing five papers on the regulation of education that were originally presented at the institute's Law and Education Seminar. Each summary was written by the author of the original paper. David Kirp's article…

A sample of curriculum projects representing the first generation of new curricula in Israel was analyzed, using an instrument developed to determine the implicit or explicit message regarding the teacher's role in curriculum development and use. Curriculum development in Israel is moving from a centralized approach to greater involvement of…

Relationships between an inquiry-oriented science inservice education program and teacher implementation of workshop-developed materials were investigated. Workshop topics included Piagetian learning theory, creating classrooms conducive to implementing inquiry-oriented science programs, use of the learning cycle, and matching learning activities…

Various collaborative efforts involved in implementing a district-developed science curriculum are described in four papers. "The Design and Utilization of a Concerns-Based Staff Development Program for Implementing a Revised Science Curriculum in Eighty Elementary Schools" (Harold Pratt, Marge Melle, Jim Metzdorf, Susan Loucks) reports…

The study reports on a nationwide survey that investigated the specific planning steps and procedures used by colleges and universities in implementing microcomputer instruction into their teacher education curriculum. The findings presented are based on 101 usable responses to a 55-item questionnaire mailed to five major college and university…

Trends described in the planning and management of block grant programs are based on 13 states' implementation of seven block grants: (1) alcohol, drug abuse, and mental health services; (2) community services; (3) education; (4) low-income home energy assistance; (5) maternal and child health services; (6) preventive health and health services;…

A study was undertaken to provide a third analysis of implementation of evaluation requirements in vocational education and of their perceived effectiveness and utility. The sample included the total population of Directors of Vocational Education for the United States and its territories; 50 directors completed the questionnaire. All respondents…

A shortened version of a more complete research report, this paper presents a study that attempted to identify factors important for the successful implementation of competency based education. First, literature on program implementation was reviewed and factors important to successful implementation were identified, such as administrative…

The relationship between the organizational and instructional features of IGE (Individually Guided Education) schools and the reading achievement of second and fifth grade students is discussed. A theoretical model of how variations in different organizational and instructional features would be linked is presented and evaluated in terms of how…

This report, the second in a series of six, describes the PUSH for Excellence (PUSH-EXCEL) Project--its origins, goals, approach, and extent of implementation. Each of the six reports tracks PUSH-EXCEL's progress in six sites: Chattanooga, Chicago, Denver, Kansas City, Los Angeles, and Memphis. Chapter 1 discusses the social movement that became…

Within the Concern-Based Adoption Model (CBAM), three key variables serve as tools for focusing on the individual teacher's progressive involvement in an innovative inservice education program. These three dimensions are: the teacher's attitude toward the innovation, changing level of use of the innovation, and perception of the innovation itself.…

Teachers, administrators, and a few parents and students rated 100 teacher competency statements with the help of the Research and Development Center for Teacher Education. These competency statements then served as the basis for the Professional Personnel Evaluation System (PPES), which also consists of rating scales to be completed by…

This paper describes an instructional improvement approach which aims to assist educational systems to enhance their capabilities to plan and implement effective improvements in their basic skills programs, and illustrates how research on implementation and dissemination is used in the design and development of the approach. Four elements of the…

An evaluation team was formed to sponsor research designed to improve the conduct and utilization of federally funded evaluations. The research projects assigned to the team reflected existing priorities for evaluation research, mainly by third party studies of existing urban area educational programs. It was found that something was seriously…

As part of a proposed three-year longitudinal investigation of planned educational change in 13 schools relating to the implementation of the Instructional Programming Model (a component of Individually Guided Education), this report describes the baseline data from three research sites. Observations, interviews, and quantitative measures were…