Policy recommendations to create school and community partnerships were formulated by educators participating in the School-Community Connection project of the Institute for Responsive Education. Recommendations center on collaboration, partnership and leadership development, standard setting, assessment and accountability, and school-work…

Examines the approach of the College Board's Advanced Placement (AP) Program to curricular development and assessment using the framework of D. Massell for agenda setting for content standards. Opportunities and constraints applicable to the current national standards movement are discussed. The AP program clearly meets capacity building and…

The purpose of postcollegiate professional education is to train scientific and science education cadres of higher qualification. To a large extent, systematic and well-planned training accomplishes the tasks of maintaining and developing the country's constructive scientific, cultural, and intellectual potential; it ensures the continuity of the…

This report presents detailed state-by-state descriptions of the range of state policies affected by the current education reform movement. It begins by presenting a typology of standards imposed by education decision-makers at the state, district and local level. This typology was used to identify, collect, and describe state-prescribed…

This three-part book contains 16 chapters exploring work-based learning from a theoretical and case-study perspective in the United Kingdom. Part 1, Framing Work-based Learning, contains the following four chapters: "New Practices for New Times" (David Boud, Nicky Solomon, and Colin Symes); "Repositioning Universities and Work"…

The cornerstone of Alaska's effort to bring higher standards and accountability to the public school system was the development of content standards in 10 core areas. These standards represent what Alaskans want students to know and be able to do as a result of their public schooling. This booklet presents the following content standards and their…

Three documents related to the passage of Public Law 102-62 are presented. The first document is the House of Representatives Report 102-104, a report of the Committee on Education and Labor regarding the establishment of a National Council on Education Standards and Testing. The Council would be established to determine whether standards for…

The District of Columbia Public Schools has adopted new learning standards for core subjects, including reading/English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. The new standards show what students should know and be able to do: (1) in each subject; (2) at each grade level; and (3) in every school. This publication guides parents…

Career-technical educators face three issues in credentialing through assessment. First, the occupational credentialing domain is large and evolving, and a clear understanding of it is a prerequisite to considering adoption of a credential. Three types of credentialing are registration, certification, and licensure. Credentialing organizations are…

Argues that content standards that are aligned with tests are the wrong starting point for systemic school change aimed at improving teaching and learning and that national standards are the wrong vehicle. Policies should attempt to create a system in which community involvement, teacher knowledge, and equalized school capacity are starting points…

Representatives of business, industry, and education have long perceived a gap between students' existing skills and those needed in the workplace. To address this problem, a strong movement toward adopting voluntary skill standards is now seen within career and technical education (CTE). In this article, the author discusses how addressing skill…

The experience of the Canadian provinces with large-scale testing programs is reviewed to suggest answers to questions currently discussed in the United States regarding the proposed national system of achievement testing. In the Canadian provinces, tests are linked to provincial curricula. Standards and assessments are not set by experts with no…

The "No Child Left Behind Act" of 2001 crystallized the concern for accountability in education. National testing was mandated as a way to improve the "broken" educational system. Publicly funded early education programs were not spared from such testing. While the positive effects of high-quality early education on children's…

The purpose of the NMSBA technical report is to provide users and other interested parties with a general overview of and technical characteristics of the 2006 NMSBA. The 2006 technical report contains the following information: (1) Test development; (2) Scoring procedures; (3) Calibration, scaling, and equating procedures; (4) Standard setting;…

This volume represents the work of the Mid-continent Regional Education Laboratory (McREL) in surveying and consolidating the national and state efforts to identify what students in kindergarten through grade 12 should know and be able to do in a variety of subject areas. McREL researchers consulted 116 national and state documents that address…