This report summarizes enrollment, financing, programs, and staff data in the 16 colleges of the Wisconsin Technical College System. Total headcount enrollment for fiscal year 1998-99 was 442,274 and total FTE enrollment was 57,667. During this fiscal year, 15,365 degrees and diplomas were awarded. Total operational cost was $604 million. The WTCS…

A Professional Learning Community (PLC) is a school where administrators and teachers continuously seek and share learning to increase their effectiveness for students and act on what they learn. PLCs are characterized by five dimensions: shared and supportive leadership, shared values and vision, collective learning and application of learning,…

California state law requires a sponsoring agency to determine whether charter schools nearing the end of their term should have their charters renewed. Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) was one of the first to grant charter school status, and consequently among the first to renew school charters. The district contracted with WestEd, a…

This report describes the 1999 legislation affecting Oregon's K-12 school finance system. The first section summarizes state appropriations and local revenue estimates for 1999-01. The second section describes modifications to the allocation of the State School Fund among school districts and Education Service Districts. The last section reports…

Teaching all students to high standards may not be achievable with the way the vast bulk of schools in the United States are organized and managed. Under current school structures and management practices, marginal improvements are possible; significantly raising student achievement is not. Accomplishing this requires dramatic improvements that…

This paper summarizes major findings from a doctoral study of the economic rationale for closing rural and metropolitan schools in South Australia. It is evident that some communities in South Australia have had their local school closed and some have not. Some receive greater levels of funding than others. This thesis research examines the…

Prominent among the new models of social service delivery are organizations providing comprehensive, community-based supports and services (CCBSS) to children and their families. A needs analysis explored CCBSS sites' interest in and readiness to use a software tool designed to help them make more effective internal resource allocation decisions…

So that New York City could build on the experiences of other large cities as it implemented Performance Driven Budgeting (PDB) in the schools, a study was conducted of the school based budgeting training in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Denver. These districts have from 6 to 10 years experience in site-based budgeting. The study is based on…

This report, submitted to the Alabama legislature, is the result of an evaluation by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education of the budgets submitted by the state's senior public institutions of higher education and by its Chancellor of the Community, Junior, and Technical Colleges. At its meeting of December 11, 1998, the Commission made…

The report summarizes results of a National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC) member survey concerning the use and support of information technology on the campuses. An introductory section offers background information on the challenges facing NASULGC members in building an advanced infrastructure for information…

This interim report provides findings on Title I services and policies and on instructional practices and their impact on student performance over the first 2 years of the Longitudinal Evaluation of School Change and Performance (LESCP). The LESCP is being conducted in 71 elementary schools in 7 states and 18 school districts that moved early to…

This study calls attention to the consistent manner in which State legal documents classify public education as a function of the State government and to the inconsistency between such legal classifications and the many cases of neglect on the part of States to provide adequately for public-school support. The data show that for the country as a…

There is scarcely a State in the Union today which is not confronted with many difficult problems due to a lack of adequate school revenues. The increasing numbers demanding education and the increasing demands placed upon the schools have led to enormous increases in expenditures. There is every reason for believing that these expenditures will…

The principle of fiscal neutrality is that school spending may not depend on the wealth of localities: if local units are to select spending levels, the state must eliminate the influence of the varying wealth of these units by matching grants. (Author/JM)

Describes the range of reforms that might result from the equal protection suits and assesses their educational consequences, good and bad, as well as assessing equal protection remedies in terms of their potential for education reform. (Author/JM)