A growing number of state leaders believe that it is essential to expand high-quality early learning and development opportunities for all young children before they reach kindergarten. A key component of this strategy is providing access to voluntary, high-quality pre-kindergarten programs, especially for low-income children. Over the last few…

This handbook is designed to serve as a guide for vocational resource educators (VREs) in Missouri. It contains basic information that is helpful to VREs as they work with students with disabilities in vocational education programs. It begins with a discussion of the role of the VRE, a nonteaching position. The following section summarizes…

This paper extends a series of studies examining school district report cards, which began with investigations of Tennessee's report card data. Since 1988, the Texas State Board of Education has produced a report card on each school district to report district-level data. Texas district report card items were organized into student outcome…

The expectations of parents of students with disabilities who transferred schools through an open enrollment option were examined in this qualitative study. In-depth interviews were conducted with parents of 18 children and adolescents who transferred their child through Minnesota's open enrollment law. Interviews addressed: the student's history…

The assessment instruments of the Maine Educational Assessment emphasize extended constructed-response questions. The results from these assessments are reported in terms of percentages of students at four performance levels. The Student-Based Constructed-Response Method was used to establish performance standards for these levels on the…

The report describes an Ontario (Canada) project to establish standards for the written and oral languages of its natives, including two language families and 13 languages still present in the province. The project has two streams: (1) a series of language conferences intended to establish consensus within an entire community regarding standard…

This report presents the results of a study of the effects of Washington State's Professional Growth Option (PGO), a state regulation that requires schools districts to plan and implement programs for teacher professional development. Section 1 describes the study which was conducted by teachers who interviewed 23 teachers representing different…

According to the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development, young adolescents are felt to be far more at risk for self-destructive behaviors than ever before, and middle grades schools are failing to meet students' needs. As part of a plan for restructuring middle grades education, Illinois has created a middle school endorsement added to…

The Nevada Proficiency Examination Program was established by the Nevada State Legislature in 1977 to identify students who might require additional assistance to maintain normal academic progress through school and to serve as a minimum competency examination, insuring that each student who receives a high school diploma has met certain minimum…

This report describes participation, student characteristics, and achievement for 10 high school courses assessed by the North Carolina End-of-Course Testing Program in 1990-91. Subject areas are: (1) Algebra I; (2) Geometry; (3) Algebra II; (4) Economic, Legal, and Political Systems in Action (ELP); (5) U.S. History; (6) English I; (7) Physical…

The experience of the Colorado Springs (Colorado) Public Schools (CSPS) in using different assessment forms for different purposes is detailed. A small niche is reserved for national norm-referenced testing to fill the state achievement testing mandate and for Chapter 1 accountability. A second, and larger, part of the assessment program will be…

Maryland, the first state to mandate performance assessments for its elementary school students, administers the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program as a week-long series of activities measuring reading, writing, language in use, science, and social studies for students in grades 3, 5, and 8. Open-ended questions are built around…

Recent investigations of the extent to which students with disabilities are allowed to participate in major national data collections used in measurement-driven education reform suggest that 40 to 50 percent of students with disabilities are typically excluded from major assessments, although they are included to a greater degree in assessments…

This report presents the state of Michigan's special education state plan for fiscal years 1995-1997. It includes policies and procedures for complying with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and state regulations. Chapters address: (1) the right to education; (2) full educational opportunities, goals, and time lines; (3) child…

This collection of papers identifies critical issues in mentoring and mentoring programs. Paper 1, "Support Behaviors Among Teachers in Authentic Settings" (Deborah L. Bainer), discusses the following issues: (1) mentoring is just one of the types of support behaviors needed and practiced by teachers in elementary schools; (2) support…