The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) targeted substantial School Improvement Grants (SIGs) to the nation's "persistently lowest achieving" public schools (i.e., up to $2 million per school annually over 3 years) but required schools accepting these awards to implement a federally prescribed school-reform model.…

The success of the United States in the 21st century will depend on the ideas and skills of its population. These have always been the nation's most important assets. As the world becomes increasingly technological, the value of these national assets will be determined by the effectiveness of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics…

The 12 winners of the federal Race to the Top competition have experienced near-universal challenges in turning their sweeping, multifaceted proposals into reality, among them a limited state capacity to execute fast, dramatic change and deeply rooted teacher-evaluation systems that have proved hard to transform. Reports unveiled by the U.S.…

As the national education policy community prepares for the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), revamping the school improvement approach leveraged by accountability systems has risen to the top of the agenda. There is an emerging consensus that the school improvement process should be systemic, led by states and…

Recommendations to increase the relevance of information, improve the communication of information, and increase user responsiveness to information are presented. Recommendations include the following: (1) the Department of Education (ED) should institute a flexible planning system for evaluations of federal education programs; (2) congressional…

The Rural and Low-Income School (RLIS) program is part of the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) that was authorized under Title VI, Part B of the "Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965" ("ESEA"), as amended by the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" ("NCLB"). The RLIS program provides additional funds…

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is a federal education law that was passed in 2001 with the laudable but challenging goal of closing the achievement gap between minority and white students and improving academic achievement among all students. To that end, NCLB has held states, school districts, and individual schools to impossibly high standards of…

The "Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998" (commonly referred to as "Perkins," "Perkins III," or "the Act" and referred to hereafter as Perkins III) requires, in Sec. 113(c)(3)(C), that the secretary provide the appropriate committees of Congress copies of annual reports received by…

In pursuing the priority of offering all students an equitable and excellent education, the Clinton administration has focused the nation on an urgent imperative: High standards for all students must be set and achieved. This imperative presents a difficult challenge and an enormous opportunity for chronically disadvantaged students, particularly…

This report discusses five issue areas in which it is believed substantial improvements in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) might be achieved. The unifying themes among these issues are to increase the visibility of NAEP, its relevance to policymakers, and its utility to state and local agencies. The first of five substantive…

Evaluations which describe and measure the impact of programs assisted under Title I are mandated by law. This evaluation is to be used in the decision-making process. A review of the literature on evaluation and instrumentation shows a paucity of descriptive information on early childhood programs funded under Title I. On-going evaluations of…

The major issue of educational quality is linked to the potential of national and state assessment programs. It is suggested that changes in assessment design, analysis, and reporting can significantly contribute to improvement in the policy development process. The California Assessment Program illustrates how state assessment information may be…

This paper addresses methodological and substantive issues regarding the use of portfolios of students' work in Chapter 1 evaluation and program improvement. In evaluations using portfolios desirable characteristics of the evaluation procedure are objectivity, reliability, and validity. The Chapter 1 Evaluation/Program Improvement System (CHEPIS)…

Reports of declining test scores and high school graduates who can't read or compute have triggered a public demand for higher standards in education. In light of this demand, National Assessment re-examined its role with respect to raising educational quality in this country. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) asked seven…

This report provides a blueprint for reorganizing the governing structure of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and suggests new procedures of test development and test administration that will increase the interpretability of the assessment while at the same time making more staff and monetary resources available for research…