The charter school movement dates from the late 1980s and became a popular education reform tool in the 1990s. Some 3,000 charter schools exist today. Charter advocates made a number of claims regarding how charter schools would improve education. The charter, or contract, would free the school of many state and local district rules and…

This research provides lengthy proof of a principle of social science known as Campbell's law: "The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor." Applying…

This brief examines how No Child Left Behind (NCLB) dollars flow from the federal government through states and districts and into the coffers of companies, mostly for-profit companies. The brief makes the case that the law enriches many private companies and individuals, especially those close to President George W. Bush and his family. The brief…

The Associate Degree has been subjected to numerous demands and external pressures and, as a result, has evolved somewhat independently at each California community college to meet local needs. Most colleges in the system have developed Associate Degrees based on completion of a general education curriculum. However, current Title 5 language…

This hearing focused on: (1) what data States collect to monitor the care and supervision of children in foster care and children for whom adoption subsidies are paid; (2) how that data is used today; and (3) what additional data or applications of these data might better ensure the safety, permanency, and well-being of children. Testimony was…

Many higher education leaders are adopting measures that may contribute to better governance, but unless they also look at how the phenomenon of culture shapes the way their board members behave as a group, they will miss the forest for the trees. The best trustees and presidents grasp the paradox of assembling a number of highly competent…

This is the fourth annual report to Congress by the US Department of Education. Among the highlights of this report are: (1) More students were reported by states as having enrolled in vocational and technical education courses in Program Year (PY) 2002-2003 than in the past three years; (2) There remain concerns about the quality and reliability…

This book is intended to facilitate the meaningful inclusion of students with disabilities in district and state assessments as required by the 1997 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. First, an introductory chapter offers reasons for including students with disabilities in district and statewide accountability systems.…

Turning around a low-performing school is a complex process in which cause-effect relationships are difficult to isolate. But recent interest in helping low-performing schools--spurred on by the reforms mandated by the No Child Left Behind Act--has generated some useful research and thoughtful analysis. This digest explores some of the key…

The 2002 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, known as No Child Left Behind, significantly expands the role of the federal government in elementary and secondary education and has important implications for rural and small schools. This guide examines 15 areas of the legislation that will have the greatest impact on rural…

This guide is intended to be a practical primer to help education leaders meet the daily challenges of school leadership. It shows how to include leadership in an integrated system of educational accountability, teaching, and curriculum for student achievement; how to do away with ineffective, obsolete, and unnecessary practices; and how to…

Recently the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) completed a project to connect the scale of the MCA and BST with NWEA's RIT scale. Six Minnesota systems participated in the study, using test information from a group of over 13,000 students enrolled in third, fifth, and eighth grades who took these Minnesota Assessments and NWEA tests in the…

This book provides teachers with insights for using research to improve their teaching, offering a career-long conversation between a world-renowned researcher and an excellent teacher with considerable professional physical education (PE) experience. It includes 30 summaries of studies on elementary PE instruction, class management, program…

This paper is part of a collection of 54 papers from the 48th annual conference of the Education Law Association held in November 2002. It discusses teacher evaluation by principals. Specifically, it presents findings of research that examined the nature of policy creation at the local board level in response to accountability legislation in North…

This is the fourth report of a project designed to monitor and assess progress made by the federal government and targeted states and school districts in carrying out the 1994 amendments to Title I. It presents field research on statewide policies and practices with respect to Title I in California, as well as district and school implementation in…