"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Striving Readers Act Introduced in the House: Act Mirrors Legislation Introduced in the Senate in March; (2) "Understanding…

The nineteen-member Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Advisory Committee was established in 2006 to consult with the United States Department of Education. U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings charged the Committee with providing this report in response to questions regarding the Department's Safe and Drug-Free Schools and…

This paper summarizes the main ideas that emerged during a two-day conference to discuss effective educational practices in mathematics for Native American students. Information is in drawn both from conference discussions and from author experiences studying and evaluating other mathematics education projects, organized into sections that…

"The 2009 Legislative Briefing" is a topical summary of actions during the 2009 legislative sessions that affect education in the 16 SREB states. Topics include: state budgets and the economy; tax and revenue; teacher and faculty pay raises; retirement systems; issues affecting teachers and education leaders; health and safety;…

The "National Child Count of Children and Youth who are Deaf-Blind" is the first and longest running registry and knowledge base of children who are deaf-blind in the world. It represents a 25 year collaborative effort between the National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB), its predecessors and each state/multi-state deaf-blind project…

This presentation summarizes two products of the ongoing work the authors are doing for the Campaign for Educational Equity. Part 1 of this presentation is a summary of "A Report Card on Comprehensive Equity: Racial Gaps in the Nation's Youth Outcomes." This report estimates the black-white achievement gaps in each of these aspects of…

There currently are 32 states in the American Diploma Project (ADP) Network, each dedicated to developing and implementing a college and career readiness agenda. At the same time, all fifty states are implementing requirements of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006. The Perkins Act and the American Diploma…

Every day, we learn what works so students can make greater progress. Six years after No Child Left Behind's passage--and midway to the nation's goal of having students on grade level or better in reading and math by 2014--we have collected more data than ever before about the academic performance of our students and schools. This information…

Every day, we learn what works so students can make greater progress. Six years after No Child Left Behind's passage--and midway to the nation's goal of having students on grade level or better in reading and math by 2014--we have collected more data than ever before about the academic performance of our students and schools. This information…

This manual familiarizes data users with the procedures followed for data collection and processing of the high school transcript component of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88). A second objective is to provide the necessary documentation for using the data files. Chapter 6 and appendix F, in particular, contain…

The collection of data by face-to-face interviews and questionnaires is common and literature in these areas is extensive; but few cases are reported in which respondents have been provided with a blank audio cassette tape, interview schedule, or open-ended questionnaire items, and been invited to record their own comments and forward these to the…

A study was conducted of students at Saddleback College (SC) in California, who requested that transcripts be sent to a four-year college, university, or professional school between November 1, 1992 and April 30, 1993. The study sample included only students who were registered in both fall 1992 and spring 1993, because those students were more…

In response to a request from the Subcommittee on the District of Columbia of the House Committee on Appropriations, the efforts of the District of Columbia to reduce its overall personnel and personnel expenditures and several financial issues involving the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) were evaluated. Difficulties the District of…

Assessment is broader in scope than testing. Typically, assessment includes gathering and integrating information about a client in a manner that promotes effective treatment. This digest discusses how counselors can use assessment as a continuous process throughout treatment. It also reviews three common forms of assessment techniques which can…

The Beginning Educator Support and Training (BEST) Program (a performance-based assessment program) was developed to enable the Connecticut State Department of Education to implement legislation requiring beginning teachers to achieve a satisfactory evaluation on a professional knowledge clinical assessment during their initial year of teaching.…