The report was issued as a statutory requirement of the Colorado State Board of Education. The report was directed to include, but not be limited to: (1) Whether student scores have improved since the accountability reports were issued in 2001; (2) Data on safety incidents involving students; (3) Whether the format of the School Accountability…

In this chapter, Stefan LoBuglio discusses the politics and practices of educational programs for adults in correctional facilities. To begin, LoBuglio provides an overview of the field of corrections, including various types of facilities and correctional programs, as well as demographic and educational data on the U.S. incarcerated population…

In Chapter Six, Linda Shohet offers a description of the adult literacy and learning system in Canada. In providing a historical overview of the development of the field, Shohet notes key political events that have influenced the funding and development of services for adults. Through her description, the author reveals the complexity and…

This report presents the results of a survey of nearly all (98.5%) of the California institutions of higher education that train adults to teach children under the age of five, including associate, bachelor's, master's and PhD programs. Data is presented on program, student, and faculty characteristics as well as language supports for students and…

This report summarizes what is known about educational improvement in Latin America and provides objectives and strategies to guide the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in supporting primary and secondary education in Latin America and the Caribbean over the next decade. It is based on six background papers as well as a review of the lessons…

This book is the fourth of four volumes in a directory of more than 1,000 discretionary grants and contracts supported by the Research to Practice Division of the Office of Special Education Programs. This volume focuses on projects concerned with technical assistance, dissemination, parent information, and state improvement. The Technical…

Noting that investments in children are often the first casualties of lean state budgets, this advocacy "toolbox" offers information on the most pressing needs of New Hampshire children and on effective solutions. The toolbox begins with information on advocacy and characteristics of an effective child advocate; specifically, an…

The Early Childhood Education Network was created as a result of a year-long collaborative project between the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) and the Policymaker Partnership to help states create an infrastructure to support the delivery of quality services to children and their families. The boards of education in six…

This report presents the results of a study that examined the role and activities of reform coaches. Positions for reform coaches have been developed in a number of schools and districts in the San Francisco Bay Area through the Bay Area School Reform Collaborative (BASRC). The study examined the reform coach role, the functions it provides to the…

In the past eight years, Chicago has created an excellent charter school model with help from across the city. Mayor Richard Daley supported the reform, Chicago Public Schools developed a thoughtful and proactive approval process, business and civic leaders championed the movement and provided technical support, and teachers and community groups…

This paper reports on Children Achieving, a systemic reform program implemented in 1995 to improve the Philadelphia public schools. Children Achieving was the first attempt by an urban district to test systemic reform in practice. The first part of the report discusses the beliefs and values of the program's action-design component, which…

Current rural policies at both the federal and state levels do not meet the needs of rural people and communities; they are designed for the past, not the future. Agricultural subsidies absorb most federal resources directed to rural areas, with no evidence of benefits for rural communities. The continuing state-level pursuit of low-wage,…

Big school districts promised to hold down costs by centralizing functions under one roof and delivering a greater selection of academic offerings and activities, thus improving education. But they have not delivered. Up to a certain size, consolidation can save costs, but above that size, districts experience "diseconomies of scale,"…

This is the report of the 2000 New Mexico Association of Community Colleges (NMACC) Strategic Planning Conference. Participants worked in small groups to identify the most probable and the most desirable world for the year 2000. Results for the most probable world include: (1) education would be available to many consumers, using many delivery…

This book provides an overview of the modal curriculum in teacher education, summarizing 29 teacher education reform proposals and examining six instructional approaches to teacher education. Chapter 1 describes the modal teacher preparation curriculum (general studies, content studies, professional education, integrative studies, and guidelines…