This document presents policies and guidelines adopted by the Illinois State Board of Education for the registration and voluntary recognition of nonpublic elementary and secondary schools. The policies and guidelines are advisory and request what is considered to be desirable action. The document first provides definitions of nonpublic school,…

This paper reviews literature and history of special education programs since passage of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Public Law 94-142) in 1975, and describes findings from a 1987-88 survey of special education directors in 50 states. Previous literature suggested perceived benefits and difficulties with local education agency…

This report is the third of a series on cultivating excellence in education for the purpose of training and retraining school leaders of the 1990s. The superintendent's role in the supervision of the administrative staff is discussed in four parts. A review of the literature in section 1 addresses several of the difficulties faced by…

Three aspects of institutional assessment are considered in this paper: the historical development of the postsecondary assessment movement; New Jersey's mandated College Outcomes Evaluation Program (COEP); and the response of the state's community colleges to the program. The first section traces the emergence of concern among national policy…

The process of developing a state education indicators system using the model proposed by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is described. The CCSSO model has three components--indicators of educational outcomes; indicators of school policies and practices; and indicators of contextual factors, or state characteristics. The goal is…

In January 1988 the Committee on Pre-College Philosophy of the American Philosophical Association undertook a survey of the state of the art of critical thinking (CT) assessment. Using Delphi research methodology, a panel of 60 scholars and teachers from throughout the United States and Canada, with backgrounds in Philosophy, Psychology,…

An introduction is provided to Vision 2000, a project initiated by Ontario's Minister of Colleges and Universities to review the mandate of the province's Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAAT). Section 1 discusses the challenges facing Ontario's educational system, the minister's mandate to the CAAT Council of Regents, and the objectives…

One of the most widely used instruments for assessing concerns has been the Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ) developed by the Concerns Based Adoption Model Project. In this research, different aspects of the validity of a modified version of the SoCQ produced for use with preservice teachers (PSSoCQ) are examined. In all, 10 different…

Curriculum mapping activities can be useful in analyzing curriculum goals and planning curriculum revision. This document is specifically designed using the Science Education Curriculum Goals articulated by the State of Oregon for grade 3. The goal areas include concepts, processing, manipulative skills, interests, values, interactions and…

Two decades following the publication of David G. Brown's "Criteria for Pruning Programs," (which recognized that traditional financial support to higher education was decreasing and proposed 10 guidelines for evaluating existing programs) a study was developed to determine what criteria are actually being used by comprehensive…

The Science Curriculum and Assessment Project is a multi-state network of school districts and other educational agencies that actively promotes science improvement through the alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. This document describes the major areas of project work, specifications and review procedures for test items in the…

Since 1969 when it was mandated by Congress, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has gathered information about the performance of 9-, 13-, and 17-year-old students in many subject areas, but most frequently in reading. Designed to reflect current developments in reading theory and research, this booklet describes the objectives…

This staff development program was directed toward the implementation of a new, hands-on elementary science program. The primary focus was three-fold: (1) to train teachers to implement a new program; (2) to increase the time devoted to science instruction; and (3) to provide teachers with additional science content background. This approach…

A brief overview of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) is provided. The history and theoretical framework of CAI and typical developmental stages involved in the implementation of a CAI system are outlined. The way CAI determines background knowledge of a student, presents information necessary to learn new concepts, sets its pace according to…

This mid-1984 "snapshot" of the Austin Independent School District (AISD) focuses on three areas: (1) the state of learning in AISD schools as measured by achievement test results for college bound seniors, graduates, and high achieving, average, and low achieving students; (2) the changes needed in compensatory programs for low…