This report presents lessons learned from the National Partnership for Reinventing Government (NPR) and offers advice for state and local reinvention efforts, describing how NPR's leaders built political and public support and focusing on five aspects of reinvention: getting started (e.g.; creating a reinvention team, building relationships with…

Administrators and board members often wonder how their respective governing bodies measure up to others. To help them gauge their success, some benchmarks that diocesan, elementary and secondary school boards, commissions, and councils can use are presented here. The information was gathered through surveys, the results of which are coupled with…

This document presents a collection of strand maps that show how students' understanding of the ideas and skills that lead to literacy in science, mathematics, and technology might grow over time. The guide discusses strand maps in general and prose directly related to each individual map. The maps are built from benchmarks that were derived from…

This reports presents data on college freshman retention and graduation in the University of Wisconsin (UW) System. The four sections of text and data tables examine: trends in retention and graduation rates for the period 1977-98; graduation and retention rates by new freshman characteristics (high school quartile, entry age, race/ethnicity,…

Nevada's six academic standards in the visual arts call for specific educational objectives in grades 3 and 5, as well as in middle school and secondary school. Nevada's standards relate to the knowledge and application of different art techniques and processes which promote understanding the visual arts in relation to history and culture. The…

Providing an overview of some of the effective ways of helping students to develop and improve their spelling skills, this book emphasizes the importance of explicit teaching. The first chapter considers current issues and perspectives in spelling. The second chapter discusses how children acquire spelling skills, and the third chapter discusses…

Intended for teachers, this booklet explains that the social studies Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) is aligned to the content standards and benchmarks for social studies contained in the Michigan Curriculum Framework. The booklet poses and answers eight questions dealing with a concept list (where it came from, how it is divided,…

This document is volume 2 of a report measuring the performance of Maryland's public colleges and universities based on a series of quality indicators which are grouped into categories of quality, effectiveness, access, diversity, and efficient allocation of resources. Public campuses developed benchmarks, or goals to measure their performance for…

Discusses outsourcing in the information industry. Highlights include information technology; special libraries; outsourcing in Australia; public librarians; benchmarking and quality control; online searching; and outsourcing as a threat to information professionals. (LRW)

Suggests how schools can truly use technology to improve their educational processes by considering technology a core value. Topics include how to coordinate and integrate technology; defining core outcomes for technology; and setting benchmarks for measurement at various grade levels. (Author/LRW)

Questions some fundamental assumptions of historical methods of space guidelines in college facility planning, and offers an alternative approach to space projections based on a new benchmarking method. The method, currently in use at several institutions, uses space per faculty member as the basis for prediction of need and space allocation. (MSE)

Develops an approach for setting performance targets for schoolchildren, using data-envelopment analysis to identify benchmark pupils who achieve the best observed performance (allowing for contextual factors). These pupils' achievement forms the basis of targets estimated. The procedure also identifies appropriate role models for weaker students'…

Discusses the formulation of the Australian Literacy Benchmarks for Year 3 and Year 5. Suggests they (1) lay claim to designating a minimum standard; (2) represent "fuzzy" standards; and (3) are a composite based on a number of underlying criteria. Claims teachers' knowledge of student literacy achievement is a richer source of valid…

Discussion of national standards for information-and-technology literacy focuses on experiences at one school where national standards were synthesized by library media specialists to develop local standards as well as a series of benchmarks by which student achievement could be measured. (Author/LRW)

Discussion of a user-driven survey conducted at the University of California, San Diego libraries focuses on the methodology that resulted in a high response rate. Highlights goals for the survey, including acceptance of data by groups outside the library and for benchmarking data; planning; user population; and questionnaire development. (LRW)