The purpose of this report is to summarize what is known about performance-based pay for teachers in a form useful to state educational policymakers. Section 1 reviews the experience of local education agencies with various forms of merit pay, contending that experience with and evaluations of these merit plans serve as "natural experiments" that…

Long-range planning is becoming increasingly important for educators in today's rapidly changing society. This bulletin accordingly presents a step-by-step model for school districts to use in developing and successfully implementing a long-range plan. Chapter 1 introduces long-range planning and suggests ways of getting district personnel…

Approximately 60,000 Delaware public school students in grades 1 through 8 and in grade 11 were administered a battery of achievement tests as part of the state-funded Delaware Educational Assessment Program (DEAP) in 1986. This was the second administration of the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS), in reading, language arts, and…

Compliance with South Carolina's Basic Skills Assessment Program (BSAP), involving test administration and instructional monitoring, was on schedule for the 1983-84 school year. Results of readiness tests given to over 50,000 first graders showed 72.6% "ready" to begin formal instruction. Teachers were given materials for areas in which…

This final report is part of a national assessment on the Chapter 1 Compensatory education program. The assessment, which began in 1984, includes national data through 1987. The topics covered in the report are the following: (1) program framework; (2) findings and implications of the national assessment; (3) distribution, character, and selection…

This update to Williamsport Area Community College's (WACC's) 1984-89 long-range plan offers a status report on each of the plan's 78 objectives, reassigns responsibility for specific objectives to make the plan responsive to the current organizational structure of the college, and offers 11 new objectives for the 1986-87 academic year. After…

This document is divided into two parts: the first presents a taxonomy of questions designed for a hypothetical computer database; the second describes the rationale for a question oriented approach to data. This taxonomy is described as a list of questions an educator might use to find out more about the achievement, attendance, and…

In 1984, a telephone survey was conducted to determine community awareness of Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC); to compare findings with results of a similar survey conducted in 1977; and to gain ideas on what additional courses respondents would like PVCC to offer. A random sample of 873 subjects was selected, representing 6.5% of the…

This document presents five scenarios, each referring to a means of assessing learning. These examples are then used to discuss pitfalls faced when tests are used to assess learning, and the conclusion is reached that testing should play a supportive role only, not a major role in the quest for excellence. Effective schools research shows that…

This paper presents a study of the contrast of social and clinical perspectives on the selection and use of information by school staff, including: (1) an outline of the context and activities of the study; (2) a definition and discussion of the basic distinction between social and clinical perspectives; (3) an examination of case material…

The National Board of Inquiry on Schools conducted hearings in nine states to determine the extent to which equal educational opportunity has been achieved and to identify the areas in which additional efforts must be made. The study found several significant achievements and changes, but also found that inadequate funding and prejudicial…

In response to the Utah State Board of Education's new high school graduation requirements, five task forces of adult basic education teachers were charged with the identification of functional competencies for adult students in the areas of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and computation, and with the development of curricular materials…

An approach was developed based on item-response models defined at the level of salient subject groups rather than at the level of individuals, designed for use with multiple-matrix sampling designs. In each of three National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics subtopics, Reiser's group-effects latent trait model was fitted to…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a federally funded, nationwide survey of educational achievement in 10 academic fields. The program is examined to determine whether viable alternatives exist to measure educational achievement. The information produced by NAEP concerns the educational achievement of 9-year-olds;…

The Arkansas Educational Assessment Program (AEAP) was initiated in 1979 when the Arkansas legislature passed Act 666, the Education Assessment Act. AEAP provides meaningful data on student achievements to educators, legislators, parents and citizens on the status and progress of Arkansas basic skills education. This information assists schools in…