This report summarizes the results of a study of the achievement of Illinois high school juniors in 1970 and 1981. The purposes were to provide a comparison of student performance over a period of time and to identify educational, social, and personal conditions that relate to performance on a test of Natural Science, Social Studies, English and…

The evolution of California's school accountability program, its current status, and some future directions are discussed. Public recognition of the need for school improvement resulted in California's Hughes Hart Education Reform Act (SB 813) of 1983, leading to the development of the California accountability program. Program components include:…

Art instruction in Iowa schools lacks cohesiveness and continuity. This may be due in part to the state government's commitment to local autonomy. The Iowa Department of Education does not mandate what schools must do; it only suggests and encourages. In 1986, the department published a five-year plan for the achievement of educational goals,…

The purpose of this curriculum guide is to define a portion of the common core of knowledge and skills that middle school students should know or be able to do to promote health and well-being. It identifies an appropriate score and sequence, and offers suggestions for teaching and learning. It is also intended as a tool for coordinating and…

In 1988, the Kentucky General Assembly enacted the Parenting and Family Life Skills Act, KRS 158.797, which requires the teaching of parenting and family life skills to pupils in Kentucky's schools. Pursuant to this Act, the Kentucky Department of Education developed the model curriculum presented in this document as a guide for local school…

These three volumes, compiled by the Great Lakes Area Regional Resource Center, provide information regarding state regulations for staff to student ratios and class size/caseload for special education programs. The first volume presents this information in a short form, in charts grouped according to handicapping condition alphabetically from…

This Oklahoma state plan documents the policies and procedures that public and private schools, agencies, and institutions follow when providing special education and related services to handicapped children, consistent with Public Law 94-142. Part I includes submission statements and certifications. Part II contains policies, procedures, and…

According to the definition that a rural school district is one in which 75% or more of the population lives outside Standard Metropolitan Areas or in which student density is equal to or less than 10 pupils per square miles, 36 or 65% of West Virginia's 55 counties are classified as rural. State school policies do not specifically recognize the…

This instructor's manual was designed to help graduates of the California Bus Driver Instructor Course provide effective instruction to school bus driver trainees. It contains enough material for 20-30 hours of classroom training. The information is organized in 12 instructional units that cover the following topics: introduction to the course;…

This summary report presents an overall assessment of future work force trends, both nationally and regionally, to the year 2000. It is intended to serve as a basis for understanding the principal forces affecting labor supply and demand over the next decade, particularly at the state and regional level. Statistics are drawn from state bureaus of…

These discussion guides for the 1986 regional conferences focus on (1) early childhood education, and (2) increasing the number of students who complete high school. The early childhood material consists of an introductory comment about the expansion of preschools which includes a review of research literature concerning lasting effects of…

This paper explores the functioning of the low-inference observation system used as part of the Tennessee Career Ladder evaluation system, which provides teachers with the opportunity to qualify for additional pay on the basis of outstanding performance. The analysis of the functioning of this form is intended to provide the basis for the ongoing…

An Ontario program providing sets of problem-solving activities for native French speakers helps students in grades 7-12 enrich their language proficiency in both French and English. The guides developed as part of the program emphasize language as a tool for thought, social interaction, and artistic expression, and focus on the integration of…

The role played by the state government in Victoria, Australia, in public education changed considerably when the Labour Party took office in the early 1980s. Seeking to redress social imbalances and inequities, the government sought broad decentralization of decision making in education, with an increased role for teachers, parents, and students.…

The process of developing the curriculum and determining educational policy in the schools of the state of Victoria, Australia, has shifted in recent years from being a function of the state bureaucracy to being a matter for collaborative decision-making among parents, students, teachers, administrators, and others involved in education. To ensure…