South Carolina's School Incentive Reward Program Program (SIRP) based on year-to-year gains in reading and mathematics achievement, which seemed to have face validity, was evaluated, particularly its use of the relative gains of students in only the highest grade in the school as the basis for the awards. When this requirement was relaxed so that…

The purpose of this paper, which is drawn from a larger analytic history of the National Teacher Evaluation (NTE) program, is to investigate issues of validity within the context of the program's 50-year history. Three major findings emerge from historical considerations relating to: (1) the continuity of test content and justification over the…

Procedures for revising a K-12 social studies program so that it includes thinking skill activities and for implementing the revised curriculum are discussed. Procedures are: the formation of a curriculum committee and sub-committees; current program assessment to determine needs regarding thinking skills; deciding on a rationale; selecting…

This guide was written under the basic assumptions that the mathematics curriculum must continuously change and that mathematics is most effectively learned through a spiral approach. Further, it is assumed that the audience will be members of district mathematics curriculum committees. Instructional objectives have been organized to reveal the…

Background information, units of study, and bibliographies that teachers can use to introduce students in grades 5-12 to a systematic study of worldwide human populations are provided. The first section discusses world population problems. The author stresses that developed nations must be concerned with rampant human population growth in the…

The study reported in this paper builds upon earlier research designed to examine issues associated with initiating an effective teacher evaluation effort and integrating it into district practices. The paper describes four districts which have made substantial progress in initiating and organizing teacher evaluation programs and presents the view…

A listing of resources is presented for parents of handicapped children. Resources are categorized according to the following types: programs, organizations, products, and additional resources; federally funded programs; national parent organizations; local parent training; and handbooks, book lists, and media. Entries are organized according to…

Between 1983 and 1986, colleges and universities issued about $20 billion of debt for facilities and student financing, and it is predicted that billions of dollars of new debt will be needed for building renovation. Debt capacity, management, and accounting are now major issues, and the purpose of this book is to provide a handy reference manual…

This paper surveys the demographic, historical, and research issues related to alternative education; describes successful models for disruptive and at-risk youth; and suggests how local areas might achieve safety in their schools. Programs for disruptive youth are forecast to grow through the 1990s; approximately 35 percent of school districts…

This guide to youth unemployment problems is based on the belief that a comprehensive system of program initiatives offers the best solutions. The principal focus is on vocationally at-risk youth. The first chapter defines and describes the target group, and outlines needs and appropriate responses. The second section describes the following eight…

Analysis of data from the High School and Beyond panel study indicates that the willingness to consider single motherhood can be linked to the following: (1) nonconforming behavior; (2) educational opportunity costs; and (3) for whites and Hispanics, depression. This report examined 13,061 females from the 1980 sophomore cohort who responded to…

This chartbook presents information on the extent and nature of unemployment in the United States. The statistics presented are part of a broad array of unemployment and related labor force data available from the Current Population Survey, a sample survey of some 60,000 households conducted monthly by the Bureau of the Census. The 28 charts and…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 12 titles deal with the following topics: (1) the communication training needs of managers in large businesses; (2) sociolinguistic signals of role in university office-hour interactions; (3) the determinants of participation in…

Intended for educational policy makers, this publication considers the teaching of controversial topics. Specifically discussed are what issues are considered controversial, why controversial topics should be taught, court decisions, ways educators can prepare for community response or complaints, and questions to address when making curriculum…

Viewpoints about world economic problems and descriptive and prescriptive views on the treatment of related controversial issues are presented. Following a section describing three types of controversial issues (issues of fact, causation, and values), the paper is arranged into six sections, each dealing with an aspect of the world economy with…