Findings of a national survey that gathered information about the status of volunteer and partnership programs are presented in this report. Data were derived from a survey that was mailed to 1,532 school districts during March to August 1991. Out of 1,337 usable responses, 738 districts indicated the existence of partnerships during the 1989-90…

What educators around the country are finding out as they work with portfolios is reviewed, focusing on the classroom. Portfolios are purposeful, collaborative, self-reflective collections of student work generated during the process of instruction. Although they can be used in any academic discipline, portfolios are widely used in English and…

This manual endorses and adopts the sector-assessment approach for planning and managing the allocation of educational resources. Chapter 1 presents the manual's goals. Chapter 2 describes the manual's content and information sources, explains the term "sector assessment," identifies the groups that benefit from recommendations made by…

This paper considers preliminary issues in the development of quality educational outcome indicators for students with disabilities within the context of current changes in general education and a conceptual model of important educational outcomes and indicators for all children. The approach and development process of the National Center on…

The progress being made in Utah toward the six national education goals, as established by the nation's governors and the Bush Administration, is described in this report. Individual sections address the state's progress toward each of the six national goals and feature: (1) performance and status information; and (2) examples of current and…

Guidelines for designing a report card to measure community progress toward achieving the six National Education Goals are provided in this document. The purpose of a community report card is to evaluate how well a strategy was implemented and how well the strategy moved the community closer to its goals. The public report card also establishes a…

As part of the process of developing an assessment system for Washington State Adult Basic Education/English as a Second Language (ABE/ESL) a review of literature was conducted, the product of which is the annotated bibliography presented here. The first section of the bibliography is a review of the materials found during the course of the…

This publication provides a comprehensive view of kindergarten through community-college education in Iowa. It describes input indicators (which are somewhat fixed by outside constraints), process indicators (over which school districts have some control), and outcome indicators (which result from planned district programs). Information for…

Florida's School Improvement and Educational Accountability program is described in this guidebook. Part 1 explains the what, why, and how of the plan, which seeks to improve student performance by defining expectations and outcomes. Chapters provide information on the following: social and demographic changes in the state; the Education…

A study to examine quality and standards in distance education identified the elements of quality, indicators that would signify their achievement, and processes that foster the achievement of quality. It focused on perceptions of quality of particular stakeholders. Documentation provided by institutions showed that they define and determine what…

Substantive arguments on school reform may be disguising a hidden debate over the process and politics of such reform--a debate over who should be responsible for educating our youth, the parties responsible for the current difficulties, and how severe these difficulties are. This document attempts to identify the attitudes that drive this hidden…

This workbook, the third in a series of "Prevention Plus" publications, provides a step-by-step approach to assessing alcohol and other drug prevention programs at the school and community level. Program assessment is presented according to a four-step model: (1) goal and desired outcome identification; (2) process assessment; (3)…

Findings from a study of junior and high school students' views of Indiana school life are presented in this report. The Indiana Youth Poll was administered to a total of 1,560 students from 204 public and 293 private schools in two stages: (1) to individuals; and (2) to discussion groups of 3 to 6 students. Chapter 1 explores students' views…

The growth of home schooling over the last 20 years in Maine and across the nation, state responses, and current controversies are described in this paper. Following an introduction, the first part provides definitions and discusses legal concerns of home schooling. The next part provides a historical overview that examines public school…

This manual describes two methods of assessing college students' conceptual structures in the interest of student evaluation. The focus is on the mental frameworks (conceptual structures) that enable students to remember and apply facts and theories. The guide offers two methods, the "ordered-tree" and the "fill-in-the-structure." An introduction…