Flexibility and accountability are two levers for change that occupy an increasingly prominent place among federal strategies for educational improvement. In return for introducing higher academic standards and performance-based accountability systems, states and districts have been granted increasing flexibility over how they may use the funding…

This paper discusses the online Personal Learning Planner (PLP) project underway at the National Institute of Community Innovations (NICI), one of the partners in the Teacher Education Network (TEN), a 2000 PT3 Catalyst grantee. The Web-based PLP provides a standards-linked "portfolio space" for both works in progress and demonstration collections…

Initiation and continuation of preschool inclusion is a challenging task. Through interviews and focus groups of school district and special education personnel, researchers in this study examined how 5 programs in 1 Midwestern state provided such services. The investigation used a multiple-case study methodology to examine how these programs…

Having developed a technology-based teaching unit on weather that appeared to work well for middle school students, Nancy Butler Songer and her colleagues at the University of Michigan decided in the late 1990s to take the next logical step in their research program: They scaled up. This article discusses lessons learned by several faculty…

This report examines trends in student achievement for public school students using both state assessment data and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Recent trends on state assessments from 2004-05 through 2006-07 are examined in 30 states that had consistent assessments in place over this period and longer-term trends on the…

Rigorous research provides information that will allow other schools and districts to select interventions that have a scientifically based track record of effectiveness. All Striving Reader grants include the mandate to evaluate literacy intervention(s) targeted to adolescents who are reading significantly below grade level. Although all studies…

Most federal programs supporting elementary and secondary education are state-administered; the federal government allocates funds to the states, which then suballocate the funds to local educational agencies (LEAs) and other agencies. This report presents information on the states' use of funds from the federal fiscal-year 1992 appropriations.…

The articles in this book examine the prominent elements of the Improving America's Schools Act, including the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). They describe how the large federal aid-to-education programs were brought into accord with the new agreement contained in Goals 2000. The book begins with a preface by…

This report provides information on the proposed Child Care and Development Block Grant Amendments Act of 1995, which reauthorizes and amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990. It also makes changes in the 1990 law to give states greater flexibility in designing their child care system, provides greater emphasis on parental…

This report describes the importance, collaboration procedure, and principles of linking integrated service systems that are community-based and school-linked, established by the National Consensus Building Conference on School Linked Integrated Service Systems. The consensus principles aim to create comprehensive, effective, community-based…

The Allen J. Ellender Fellowship Program provides fellowships to economically disadvantaged secondary school students, secondary school teachers and administrators, and economically disadvantaged older citizens, and recent immigrants for participation in the Close Up Foundation's week-long civics education programs in Washington, D.C. The Close Up…

The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) is a regional economic development agency representing a unique partnership of federal, state, and local governments. Established by an act of Congress in 1965, the Commission is composed of the governors of the 13 Appalachian states and a federal co-chairperson. Grassroots participation is provided by…

This study examines many measures of enforcement output and outcomes that help to demonstrate the real impact of funding levels. The information, unless otherwise indicated was drawn from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and agency budget documents for Fiscal Years 1979 through 1996. Resources provided for civil rights enforcement…

Chapter 2 of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is a formula grant program designed to support educational improvement. The intent of the Chapter 2 program is to make funds available for state education agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs) to improve elementary/secondary education, meet the special educational…

This directory provides information on organizations, government agencies, institutions of higher education, periodicals, publishers, and other resources useful to persons involved in the education of American Indian and Alaska Native students. Section 1 describes approximately 80 international, national, and multistate nongovernmental…