During the 2004 legislative session, the Colorado General Assembly enacted Senate Bill 189 (SB189), which established the first system of college vouchers in the United States. The supporters of SB189 hoped that the voucher system, called the College Opportunity Fund (COF), would: 1) stabilize the flow of state funding to higher education; 2)…

The purpose of this study is to further enhance the existing reliability and validity evidence related to the School Implementation Scale (SIS) and its use for evaluating the implementation of different integrated academic and behavior tiered Response-To-Intervention (RTI) models. Previous methodology conducted for validation of the instrument has…

Accountability standards challenge schools to provide quality education for all students and to ensure that all students are on grade level by the end of the school year. If schools fall short of this challenge failing to make at least one year of progress, schools are at risk of being identified as low performing. In this age of accountability,…

This brief estimates the impact of a statewide implementation of Opportunity Culture models, using North Carolina as an example. Impacts estimated include student learning outcomes, gross state product, teacher pay, and other career characteristics, and state income tax revenue. Estimates indicate the potential for a statewide transition to…

In the 2006-2007 school year, the State of Wyoming adopted an evidenced-based school funding model. The Wyoming funding model reviewed in this study is considered an evidence-based approach, utilizing expert judgment to determine educational funding. In an evidence-based approach, educational strategies are identified and a dollar figure is…

Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (2002), there has been increased interest in using student achievement data (through standardized tests) to evaluate teacher effectiveness. Two U.S. Department of Education secretaries, Secretary Spellings and Secretary Duncan, have expressed interest in growth models and the need to…

Response to intervention (RTI) is a framework for providing interventions and services at increasing levels of intensity until students succeed. The framework helps teachers and schools provide instruction and interventions matched to student needs, monitor progress frequently to guide decisions about changes in instruction or goals, and apply…

To determine the relationship of characteristics of the consulting teacher model to measures of school achievement, special education for 1,628 children in 42 Vermont sites was examined through a stepwise multiple regression analysis of 17 variables descriptive of service, teaching, community, and school achievement. Service variables included…

Nationwide experience over the last 20 years strongly suggests that state and local education agencies must work together to establish a common vision, standards, and common expectations--a framework--for their comprehensive guidance and counseling programs. This document presents a framework that brings together the basic elements to develop,…

Proposed an accountably model that addresses the challenges of allowing school districts to choose the specific strategies they use to measure student performance and evaluated this model using data from multiple sources for all school districts in Florida. Findings identify three strategies that would be useful for this type of accountability…

The model used by National Assessment for data gathering and reporting on the Citizenship area is described, and the potential uses of the model for state and local assessment, curriculum development, and accountability purposes are discussed. The study was carried out using papers and reports from the National Assessment of Educational Progress,…

This document describes state and local elementary and secondary education standards developed for academic achievement and assessment of student progress in Missouri. In response to the Outstanding Schools Act of 1993, the Show-Me Standards were established to represent knowledge students should acquire and how they should be able to communicate…

This report has three objectives: (1) to identify social indicators relating to policy concerns of the legislature, state board of education, and commissioner of education; (2) to predict the future status of selected social indicators, using the assumption that present policies will be continued; and (3) to recommend policy changes for achieving…

The Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) of the National Center for Education Statistics offers the most comprehensive picture available of elementary and secondary schools in the United States. The value of the SASS would be even greater if information on districts and schools could be related directly to student outcomes. A relatively inexpensive…

This resource manual for administrators, supervisors, and teachers was developed to foster the effective use of the in-class instructional model in basic skills improvement (BSI) programs in elementary schools. Funded by federal, state, and local sources, BSI programs are designed to be coordinated with school districts' developmental programs to…