The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is a comprehensive plan to reform schools, change school culture, empower parents, and improve education for all children. The law promises to raise standards for all children and to help all children meet these standards. No Child Left Behind is based on four principles: (1) Accountability for results; (2)…

This commentary discusses some of the challenges teacher education programs face in preparing teachers for working with students with disabilities. Trends toward making teacher education more authentic, increasing opportunities for practicum experiences, and focusing on the abilities of teacher candidates to achieve student learning are…

On the 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) math, 17 percent of high school seniors scored at the "proficient" level --just under half the percentage scoring at that level on the NAEP reading test. Twenty-two percent of college freshmen are identified as needing remedial math, according to the National Center for…

Most other nations have a very different approach to measuring academic achievement at the end of high school and signaling that information to universities and other interested parties. In Australia, Denmark, England, Scotland, Finland, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and many Canadian and German provinces, for example, high school exit…

The paper attempts to synthesise the features of the model for quality management in education based on the approaches spelt out in four well-articulated methodologies for the practice of quality in higher education. Each methodology contributes to different views of education from the learners' and the institution's perspectives, providing…

The greening of universities has been on the international agenda for at least a decade. While there has been considerable activity at some universities overseas, progress in Australian universities has been less easily identifiable. Also, the term "greening" has often been taken to apply to the operations of a university, whereas the…

Having made "continuous improvement" the theme of its accreditation process a decade ago, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) is poised to make "assurance of learning" the current focus of the faculty/student exchange. In this article, the authors discuss how to use standardized assessment tests…

Jeb Bush campaigned for Governor on a clear and bracing set of education reforms in 1998. Having won office, he immediately pursued a dual track strategy of education reform: standards and accountability for public schools, choice options for dissatisfied parents. Florida lawmakers followed these reforms with additional measures, including…

Rapid changes in technology make it necessary for adults of all ages to use written information in new and more complex ways. For example, learning how to operate computers, filling out complicated tax forms, and comparing price labels when shopping for groceries are just a few of the many tasks that are important parts of peoples lives. Every…

The state-administered grant program authorized under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA), enacted as Title II of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998, is the major source of federal support for adult basic and literacy education programs. The purpose of the program is to provide educational opportunities to adults sixteen…

"Parent Attitudes about Education in Arizona: 2006" is the third-annual study of the opinion of Arizona parents on the issues facing public schools. The study is conducted by the Arizona Education Policy Initiative (AEPI), a collaboration of Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona, and it is a…

In this paper, the authors argue that at a time when disappointing student performance, stark achievement gaps, and an ever-"flattening" world call for retooling American schools for the 21st century, the most daunting impediments to doing so are the teacher collective bargaining agreements that regulate virtually all aspects of school district…

This 2004 Annual Report to Congress has two volumes. Volume 1 focuses on the children and students being served under IDEA and provides profiles of individual states' special education environment. It contains three sections. Section I contains the child/student-focused material, presented in a question-and-answer format. It contains three…

The Los Angeles Unified School District is the second largest public school system in the United States, and one of the largest organizations of any kind in the country. As with urban school systems across the country, the Los Angeles school district is under enormous pressure to improve. The district is under public scrutiny and is the subject of…

The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) is the primary measure of student achievement applied to the grading of the Florida public schools. School grades utilize a point system in which schools are awarded one point for every percent of students: (1) scoring in achievement levels 3-5 in Reading; (2) demonstrating learning gains in…