The purpose of "Focus" is to provide coverage of poverty-related research, events, and issues, and to acquaint a large audience with the work of the Institute for Research on Poverty by means of short essays on selected pieces of research. This issue contains the following articles: (1) Changing poverty and changing antipoverty policies…

"Educational Measurement" has been the bible in its field since the first edition was published by ACE in 1951. The importance of this fourth edition of "Educational Measurement" is to extensively update and extend the topics treated in the previous three editions. As such, the fourth edition documents progress in the field and…

School districts today face increasing calls for accountability during a time when budgets are stretched and students' needs have become increasingly complex. The teacher's responsibility is to educate younger people, but now more than ever, teachers face demands on a variety of fronts. In addition to teaching academic content, schools are…

Measuring History complements the cases presented in Wise Social Studies Practices (Yeager & Davis, 2005). Yeager and Davis highlight the rich and ambitious teaching that can occur in the broad context of state-level testing. In this book, the chapter authors and I bring the particular state history tests more to the fore and examine how…

Citing Aristotle, Franklin and Einstein as proponents of a broad, liberal-arts education, Finn and Ravitch promote the need for liberal learning as preparatory to the civic life needed for a well-functioning democracy. Drawing together the work of a number of educators, the editors have organized this volume in two sections. Part I, Liberal…

This report is the result of a year-long evaluation of special education in New York City (New York) and presents major recommendations for reorganizing general and special education. It proposes a school-based model with an integrated general/special education system, and use of an enrichment allocation from merged special and general education…

This book contains the following papers about the role of vocational education and training in developing a competent work force in Great Britain (United Kingdom): "The Challenge of Competence for the Caring Professions: An Overview" (Phil Hodkinson, Mary Issitt); "The European Challenge to British Vocational Education and…

This document is a comprehensive report of Ohio activities related to the expenditures of federal funds under the Carl Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act of 1990. Section I describes the progress Ohio has made in achieving the objectives outlined in the State Plan for the Administration of Vocational Education in Ohio. It…

This paper traces the evolution of curriculum reform in Mississippi from a state level, norm-referenced accountability system to a performance-based, centralized accreditation system that integrates instructional management requirements into improvement standards. Accountability legislation has primarily been concerned with quality of student…

This article begins with a section that describes cooperative learning and explains eight cooperative learning principles. The second section discusses the interface between cooperative learning and language pedagogy. Next is a section about the why and how of reading aloud by teachers. The heart of the article resides in the last and longest…

Educational testing and its uses have come under increasing criticism as they are used more and more for decision making--to determine student tracking assignments, college admission, personnel selection, and licensing policies. The papers from this conference, which discussed the major issues in testing, include: (1) Testing: A Parent's Point of…

The National Literacy Secretariat (NLS) is a grants and contributions initiative established in 1987. The NLS has two objectives: (1) To increase opportunities and take-up, so that people improve their reading and writing skills; and (2) To work towards making Canada's social, economic and political life more accessible to those with weak literacy…

The profession of educational leadership in the 21st century is changing. School leaders, educational administration faculty, and policymakers are endeavoring to redefine the profession in an era of ferment, during which the legitimacy of its knowledge base and the appropriateness of programs for preparing school leaders have been thrown into…

The financing of adult learning in civil society in Europe was examined in an exploratory study that focused on the relationship between nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the status of financing in the general field of adult learning. Adult education experts from the following countries were subcontracted to develop "country…

Florida's apprenticeship program was reviewed to assess its benefits and ability to meet state demands. The review was based on an analysis of the apprenticeship program's enrollment, costs, and course offerings and information about the employment and earning outcomes of program graduates. The review established that Florida's apprenticeship…