This case study examined the influences of autonomy and uncertain expectations of accountability on the functioning of an urban charter school during its initial years of development. The school studied was a charter school in its second year of development that was attempting to measure student improvement in challenging areas such as social…

This paper discusses the findings of St. Petersburg College's (SPC) (Florida) evaluation question: "How can the eCampus be organized and run to address traditional faculty concerns, but maintain an innovative approach to providing educational access?" In order to evaluate this question, a list was compiled of faculty issues identified by…

This report discusses St. Petersburg College's (SPC) (Florida) evaluation question, "How can St. Petersburg College leverage technology to increase access to courses and programs for an expanded pool of learners?" The report summarizes both nationwide/worldwide best practices and current SPC efforts related to four strategies: (1) an…

This annual report describes the activities of the four Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Partnerships created by the Office of Special Education Programs to provide reliable information on IDEA. The Partnerships include: (1) the Associations of Service Providers Implementing IDEA Reforms in Education (ASPIIRE) Partnership; (2)…

Research in school districts throughout the United States shows that children who use "Breakthrough to Literacy" achieve significant and lasting improvement in their reading skills. At virtually every site studied where implementation criteria were met, children who participated in "Breakthrough" demonstrated marked increases…

The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act gave American Indian and Alaska Native tribes the option to administer Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs either alone or in a tribal consortium. The law also granted tribal TANF programs more flexibility in program design than it gave to state programs.…

The report, compiled from visits by groups of policymakers, discusses the challenges to out-of-school-time (OST) program implementation, including issues of going to scale, state and local roles and responsibilities, funding and sustainability, the role of intermediaries and advocates, and the relationship between OST programming and academic…

This Toolkit is meant to be a resource for teachers, parents, and administrators involved with two-way immersion (TWI) programs, particularly those at the elementary level. Two-way immersion is a form of dual language instruction that brings together students from two native language groups for language, literacy, and academic content instruction…

"Looping" is a practice that allows single-grade teachers to remain with the same class for 2 or more years. Organized in a question-and-answer format, this book answers 72 questions about looping commonly asked by teachers and parents, including questions about its benefits, disadvantages, and implementation. Chapters include: (1) "What Is…

The Houston Independent School District (HISD) (Texas) was one of 16 districts nationwide to receive a Department of Education Safe Schools Discretionary Grant for the 1995-96 school year. This federally funded violence prevention program was called the HISD Safe Schools Initiative. The grant established a model for integrating existing and new…

This yearbook contains 14 essays that address a wide variety of issues that educators, policymakers, and others involved in education are exploring in order to expand the understanding of the burgeoning field of service learning. The following papers are included: "Youth Participation: Integrating Youth into Communities" (Peter…

The Desire, Ability, Means, and Need (DAMN) Cycle is a useful paradigm for understanding the lifelong learning framework in Singapore. The cycle suggests that, for learning to occur, students must have a desire and an ability to learn, including inquiring minds and higher order process skills; the means must be provided through a well-defined…

Although Japanese society has long valued and practiced lifelong learning, it has not yet been successful in building an ethic that prizes learning, teaches creativity, and includes everyone. Bureaucratic and legal mechanisms undertaken in Japan to promote lifelong learning have included the establishment of Lifelong Learning Councils, a system…

Hudson County Community College in New Jersey adopted a new mission statement in April 1993, which radically changed the school from a limited-mission college to a comprehensive college devoted to serving the entire community's educational needs. A strong faculty and staff development program was necessary for this transition. A new program was…

Writing assessment began in Alaska in the 1970s, and the Alaska Writing Assessment (AWA) that was piloted in 1997 built on previous efforts. The 1997 AWA involved more than 20,000 students in grades 5, 7, and 10 from 43 school districts, and the mandatory assessment planned for 1998 will include approximately 28,000 students. This review of the…