In 1998, as part of a major 3-year Reading Initiative, the Albertson Foundation provided $24.5 million to improve the reading performance of all Idaho elementary, middle, and junior high students. The reading components of School Renaissance (SR), a comprehensive school improvement program, include Accelerated Reader (AR) learning information…

This brief makes the case for thoughtful district- or school-driven assessment systems that complement and go beyond what statewide testing systems are able to accomplish. It describes important attributes of model local assessment programs and presents the necessary steps for building a local assessment program that will elicit information that…

Implementing exportable instructional systems has always been a problem for instructional developers. Even the best instructional systems lose effectiveness when they are poorly implemented. Researchers have focused their efforts on creating mechanisms to help developers and managers improve and control implementation. However, most of these…

The America Reads Challenge Act of 1997 created a nationwide effort to meet President Clinton's challenge for American citizens to volunteer as reading tutors "to ensure that every American child...learns to read well and independently by the end of third grade" (USDOE, 1997). Research has shown that volunteer tutors can be effective in…

This workbook is part of a series devoted to all areas of charter-school development. The third of five workbooks, it focuses on assessment and accountability and examines such issues as academic accountability, fiscal accountability, public/parental accountability, rule compliance, assessment and evaluation, financial management, developing a…

This workbook is part of a series devoted to all areas of charter-school development. Fourth in the series, this volume focuses on governance and management, with an emphasis on creating an organizational structure, establishing strong leadership, handling personnel issues, creating a board and board bylaws, managing growth, and dealing with…

This second of four publications in the Neighborhood Networks Employment Series focuses on how Neighborhood Networks centers can deliver effective job development and placement programs for residents who are on public assistance, are unemployed, or are underemployed. This guide explains how Neighborhood Networks centers can develop relationships…

Since the fall semester of 1998, a committee of university faculty and local school system administrators has collaborated to design an alternative teacher certification program to meet the teacher shortage needs of the Hamilton County, Tennessee, schools. Areas of identified shortages include science, mathematics, and foreign languages at the…

Recent research indicates that 48 of the 50 states have school curricula frameworks that contain one or more elements that call for some form of media literacy education. Such findings indicate that media literacy is slowly becoming an integral part of school curricula. However, full adoption of media literacy programs has yet to occur.…

In this report, the California Postsecondary Education Commission finds that the proposal submitted by the Sequoias Community College District for the Center for Agriculture Science and Technology in Tulare County (California) has met the review criteria established for a new educational center and recommends that the State authorize it. The…

Community colleges have many concerns over attrition and retention rates. Studies show that 50% of freshmen drop out before completion of a degree or certificate, and nearly half of all attending students are 25 years or older yet lack basic math, reading, and writing skills. Students experiencing learning difficulties, and older students such as…

This study examined relationships between schools' efforts to involve families in their children's education and student performance on standardized achievement tests in the Baltimore schools. Data gathered by the National Network of Partnership Schools was combined with those collected by the state for the mandated Maryland School Performance…

Web sites that support counseling and the use of self-help resources are often used as an integral part of services delivered by organizations. Given the organizational context of these Web sites, effective implementation of these sites within organizations contributes to the overall quality of available resources and services. This document…

School-based planning for instructional improvement has been a major national education reform focus for over 2 decades. However, many efforts proposed to put schools in charge of their own instructional operations delivered only increased discretion rather than real autonomy over internal operations, such as budgeting. In 1997, New York City…

In the current climate of rapid technological advance and social value change, many have suggested that schools should use a school-based approach to curriculum planning. How to design such a curriculum in order to train graduates suited for employment has become an important issue. Many domestic and international enterprises have successfully…