The Illinois Initiative on Transparency in Learning and Teaching is a grassroots assessment project designed to promote students' conscious understanding of how they learn and to enable faculty to gather, share, and promptly benefit from data about students' learning by coordinating their efforts across disciplines, institutions, and countries.…

This article presents findings from an investigation of the overall effectiveness of Michigan's Freedom to Learn (FTL) One-to-One initiative. The major goal of the FTL initiative was to help students to gain 21st century knowledge and skills while increasing their learning and achievement through the integration of over 20,000 laptop computers…

This document is designed to assist school district personnel in the identification of intervention strategies that have a good probability of increasing the district's mean score on the Goal IV Educational Quality Assessment (EQA) instrument. Appropriate educational research has been reviewed and distilled into seven propositions that are…

Pennsylvania's Educational Quality Assessment (EQA) program is discussed in terms of its historical background, ACLU objections to its alleged infringements of individual rights, and reactions of students who have taken it. Journal is available from Ritter Hall, Fourth Floor, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa. 19122. (AV)

This study provides information about prevention and control practices in intervention and comparison secondary schools 2 years after the start-up of the Texas Tobacco Prevention Initiative. The intervention, which was funded through the Texas Department of State Health Services, consisted of guidance, training, technical assistance, and…

The PACT (Perceptions of Apprenticeship Classroom Training) program was developed as a component of the PROE system (Program Review in Occupational Education). PROE is itself one of four components of the Michigan Community College Occupational Education Evaluation System (MCCOEES), a comprehensive system for evaluative occupational education.…

This booklet provides an overview of IST (Individualized Study by Technology) programs at small, isolated rural high schools in Alaska, which use individualized microcomputer-based courses to provide a more complete curriculum. First, a general description is given of the IST program, which utilizes teachers, traditional texts, and printed…

The 3 year study investigated four New York programs in which junior and senior high school students enrolled in schools for the deaf were mainstreamed into occupational education courses at neighboring education centers. Data were collected on philosophical views toward career education, information and decision making functions, individual…

Since the minimum competency movement of the 1970s, the importance placed on standardized tests has increased significantly. The intent of this study was to investigate the effects of state testing programs on the instructional practices of elementary school teachers and the effects of such practices on their gifted students' attitudes toward…

In 1996, North Carolina began a 5-year evaluation of alternative learning programs (ALPs). This report contains in-depth case studies of four ALPs during the 1996-97 school year. The ALPs were selected to represent different types of programs in the state, and include one middle school, two high school, and one elementary school programs. The case…

In an effort to conceptualize, plan, and conduct research activities to gather data for decision making concerning program improvement in vocational agriculture, a model for evaluating programs was developed by the Department of Agricultural and Extension Education, University of Florida. Through use of this model, six objectives to guide research…

A review of the literature on the effects upon student writing performance of variations in essay examination topics reveals that such research is sparce and that most of it has been done in the past 5 years. The review, which was conducted as part of a project to develop the writing test portion of the Florida Teacher Certification Examination,…

To expand and improve after-school opportunities for children, New Jersey After 3 (NJ After 3) has sought to develop and implement a comprehensive system of high-quality after-school programs throughout the state. Specifically, NJ After 3 seeks to increase the number of after-school programs in New Jersey that provide a safe environment for…

First-year evaluation results of Iowa's Basic Skills Certification pilot program were reported for the four community colleges participating: Northeast Iowa, Des Moines Area, Western Iowa Tech, and Iowa Western. The pilot sites represented a variety of adult basic education instructional environments that included a workforce development center,…

The Minnesota Department of Education has created a plan, "Unlearning Violence," to aid schools and communities in their efforts to create safe and nurturing environments for all the state's children. The goals and challenges of this plan were formulated with the involvement of over 600 citizens and an in-depth study of research related…