The following profiles address how the state departments of education are helping educators prepare for and implement their states' new college- and career-readiness standards and aligned assessments, through professional learning. SREB researchers examined each state's major professional development efforts around its new standards in order to…

Introduction: Pennsylvania's Improving Performance in Practice (IPIP) program is administered by the Pennsylvania (PA) chapters of the American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Physicians, and American Academy of Pediatrics. The project has provided coaching, monthly measurement, and patient registry support for 155 primary-care…

Pennsylvania is one of a handful of states that are leading the way in ensuring children receive a continuum of care starting at birth and extending throughout childhood so that they can move seamlessly from home to child care to preschool to school, and then from grade to grade. That means children have to be ready for school. It also means that…

A long-range school improvement program, under the direction of the Pennsylvania State Department of Education, was developed to coordinate and articulate the curriculum, as well as to structure school management and other district operations. Featured in the plan are: (1) a statewide testing program called "Educational Quality…

A description is given of the structure and operation of 29 intermediate administrative units which provide consulting, advisory, administrative, or statistical services to local school districts in Pennsylvania. The basic services rendered by the units are in the areas of: (1) curriculum development and instructional improvement; (2) management;…

This report contains findings from a study to examine the impact of Pennsylvania's Customized Job Training (CJT) program upon clients (trainees), business/industry, local education agencies (LEAs), and local communities and the commonwealth. Chapter 1 details study purposes, design, and procedures. Chapter 2 presents a summary description of the…

In their 2004 State of the State speeches, the nation's governors cited many issues competing for their attention and their states' resources, including health care, education, crime, and security (Nodine 2004). Among the most compelling challenges were those related to economic development and the ability of a state's workforce to meet the needs…

This guide contains 55 articles written by adult basic education (ABE) practitioners in Pennsylvania suggesting ways to improve teaching and program administration in the field. The guide is organized into four parts: (1) working together for program improvement, (2) teaching and learning, (3) developing as a professional and (4) appendixes (high…

Factors that have contributed to the sluggish evolution of an adequate planning methodology in environmental health programs at the local level are detailed. Areas of environmental health programs identified by the author as needing change include: management, the administrative model, program evaluation, and community participation. (BT)

This project was conducted to continue the curriculum network whereby information, services, and materials related to the disadvantaged were disseminated directly to vocational personnel in Pennsylvania. During the year-long program, a curriculum network was maintained through the vehicle of a newsletter distributed to educators in the state. The…

APPROXIMATELY 100 EDUCATORS FROM FIVE STATES AND THE VIRGIN ISLANDS PARTICIPATED IN AN INSTITUTE TO HELP INSTRUCTIONAL AND GUIDANCE PERSONNEL IMPROVE THE VOCATIONAL ORIENTATION OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WHO ARE PREPARING TO ENTER THE WORLD OF WORK. THE AGENDA CONSISTED OF SPEECHES ON VOCATIONS, GROUP SESSIONS TO DISCUSS VOCATIONAL PROGRAM…

This paper presents a five-year plan for the improvement of Pennsylvania's system of services for people with mental retardation and their families. It was developed over an 18-month period by 70 people, including people with disabilities, family members, advocates, providers of service, legislative staff, and county and state government…

EQUAL (Educational Quality or Adult Literacy) is Pennsylvania's program improvement initiative that measures performance by the quality of education learners receive. For 3 years, Project EQUAL was piloted in adult education agencies throughout the state. Beginning in 1997, the pilot projects helped to develop a process for continuous program…

This workshop manual focuses on validation procedures designed to foster program improvement rather than compliance monitoring. The manual is in eight chapters. Chapter 1 looks at the elements to be evaluated--organization and management, training, student assessment, design and implementation of classroom interventions, team work, screening a…

This document is one of a series of reports which describe the experiences of six state agencies that are developing systems to affect the development and implementation of policy in the federal/state program for vocational rehabilitation. The state programs are developing model program evaluation/management information support units. This second…