This report provides a bi-annual snapshot of how states regulate and support programs and services for gifted and talented learners. The report, developed from a survey of the state directors of programs for the gifted, covers questions about funding, state education agency support, mandates, identification, programs and services, personnel…

This study had two broad goals: to discuss state politics and accountability policies in Virginia and Georgia before the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act and to analyze the civil rights implications of NCLB's accountability requirements for future policy decisions. Part 1 describes previous policies and governance arrangements and how these factors…

This report explores policies and practices governing online education with a particular focus on policies aiming to provide students with high-quality online learning experiences. The report looks specifically at two areas: state-level policies governing online education, and statewide online programs (i.e., programs created by legislation or by…

This brief is based on the 61-page report of the same name. This paper, commissioned by the Brookings Institution, studies the emergence of the mixed delivery model, in which pre-kindergarten is delivered in community-based settings and schools. It describes findings of a state survey CLASP conducted to understand the policy choices,…

This brief document analyzes the goals and indicators provided by states as part of the second round of state Biennial Performance Reports (BPRs) covering the academic years 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 as required by the 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Review of state (or other federal jurisdiction) BPRs examined:…

This publication is concerned with how to keep schools safe. The spring 2001 issue "New Study Reveals Prevalence, Harm of Bullying" (Ira Pollack) discusses a study about bullying based on data collected in 1998 by the World Health Organization's Health Behavior in School-Aged Children survey of 15,686 students in grades 6 through 10 and sheds…

This report explains how students with significant disabilities who submit portfolios for the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) Alternate Assessments are evaluated to meet state requirements for a "competency determination" needed to receive a regular high school diploma. The reasoning behind the Massachusetts approach and the…

A study was conducted to determine whether teachers in districts using state-mandated (traditional) teacher evaluation systems or educators in districts using locally developed alternative teacher evaluation systems perceived teacher evaluation as having a stronger positive impact on school improvement, professional development, and student…

Through a series of tables, this document presents a profile of the system of higher education in Mississippi. The first section focuses on finances, with tables portraying the history of funding for higher education in Mississippi, appropriations per student, faculty salaries, and information on operating budgets and tuition and fees. The next…

Lawrence Central High School (LHS) is a suburban school near Indianapolis, Indiana, that implemented in 1998-1999 an extensive remediation program to increase the passing rates of their students taking the state's mandated competency examination, the Indiana State Testing for Education Progress (ISTEP) examinations. The number of students in the…

This 6th edition volume presents a detailed report on the growth of programs for persons with disabilities at the federal level and in the states. The two chapters of part one provide a cross-disability perspective, "An Institutional History of Disability" (David Braddock and Susan Parish) and an empirical study across federal, state,…

The purpose of this study was to understand how schools can raise school performance, with emphasis on schools serving low-income students and schools with low baseline performance levels. The research focused on a limited group of rapidly improving schools in Washington state and a small number of matched nonimproving schools studied for purposes…

The Missouri School Improvement Program is designed to promote excellence in the public schools of the state. Missouri has a dual responsibility for the quality of education provided its citizens. This document outlines the state's vision and expectations for a quality school. The standards are organized in three sections: resource standards,…

This report presents data from Making the Grade's 1995-96 survey of state initiatives to support school-based health centers. The survey's main findings reveal that there were 900 such centers providing care to children during the 1995-96 school year, representing a 50 percent increase over previous year. The importance of state funding for these…