This report assesses student perceptions of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). Individual and focus-group interviews were conducted with approximately 100 students in 6 schools in 3 geographically different school districts across Kentucky. In addition, a brief exit interview was conducted with principals to solicit feedback concerning…

This paper utilizes the concepts of power and change as a framework for describing and analyzing efforts made by an individual teacher to change instructional-grouping and teacher-assignment practices in one Georgia school system. Data were collected through interviews with the individual teacher, administrators, educators, and federal and state…

The paper describes how Concordia College (Minnesota) restructured its teacher education programs, beginning with secondary education, to develop a knowledge base for teacher education. Data from a survey of employers of first year graduates, from a survey of the graduates themselves, and from comments collected from students and the teachers…

This report by Maine's Task Force on Year-Round Education to the State Board of Education explores the feasibility of changing the school calendar--to distribute instructional time over more calendar months in order to enhance student learning. The new schedule could reduce teacher and student absenteeism, limit the loss of learning during summer…

This book provides the steps, methods, and strategies that a team of professional educators successfully used in one school to develop Total Quality Education (TQE). As the final volume in the TQE series, the book is a useful guide for teachers, administrators, and parents in creating the self-renewing school. Seven chapters are based on the…

This background paper examines the current state of higher education finance--the scope of the higher education enterprise, challenges to its funding base, and undesirable consequences of current financing practices--and describes what is meant by a "restructuring" of higher education finance. It demonstrates that the structures and practices…

Business process redesign (BPR) is a multifunctional, interdisciplinary, and strategic business improvement methodology designed to improve service, costs, and quality. This book provides a conceptual framework for institutions of higher education to shape such an improvement effort including examples of BPR activities and tools. Chapter 1…

This guide is the third in a series of guidelines designed to be a framework for positive action at the school site and in the classroom through the High Schools That Work program, an effort to raise the achievement of career-bound students. Its purpose is to help high schools determine where they are in relation to the goals and key practices of…

The recommendations of the National Association of State Boards of Education's Study Group on Special Education focus on: (1) creation of a new belief system and vision that includes all students; (2) encouragement of collaboration between general and special educators to better serve the diverse student population; and (3) breaking the link…

The Council on Diversity in Extension was created as an advisory council for the Cooperative Extension System. The council's first meeting was devoted to providing feedback on a draft document titled "Pathway to Diversity: The Strategic Plan for the Cooperative Extension System's Emphasis on Diversity." This report of the highlights of…

Unacknowledged and untended opposition can lead the "resistance" to destroy even the best planned of portfolio systems. The greatest cause of initial resistance to portfolio assessment is the fear that teachers will lose their autonomy and/or authority in the classroom. Writing instructors need to ask themselves about issues of control and…

This literature review and bibliography of 35 references addresses child care and education of young (under age 6) children with disabilities. It utilizes a question-and-answer format, with relevant references cited in the answers. Questions address the following issues: (1) incidence of disabilities or delays in children under age 6; (2) features…

This paper examines the effect of organizational culture and power on the meaning and practice of multicultural curricular change. A case study is presented of an urban academic institution that had adopted a university-wide undergraduate diversity requirement in 1991 after considerable debate and negotiation among various constituencies. The…

Health promotion includes those strategies that reinforce the maintenance of healthy lifestyle behaviors and discourage the use of unhealthy lifestyle behaviors. Health promotion strategies are gaining momentum in the United States. Three of the six "America 2000" education goals have health-related implications, specifically the goals…

This paper on minority teachers in the field of mathematics begins with statistics on minorities in America, in order to put the problem of underrepresentation in perspective. It then showcases programs that appear to be successful in recruiting and/or retaining minorities in teaching mathematics at the school, college, and university levels. The…