The Center on Standards, Alignment, Instruction, and Learning (C-SAIL), examines how college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards are implemented, if they improve student learning, and what instructional tools measure and support their implementation. This brief presents findings from C-SAIL's Implementation Study, which uses interview and survey…

Over the next few years, educators and policymakers have committed to implementing an array of challenging, but potentially transformative, reforms--reforms that could go beyond rearranging furniture to fundamentally restructuring and improving teaching and learning. Facing this much simultaneous change would be difficult even without the…

Despite the expressed need for high-quality science education, very little research has been conducted on what middle school science learning opportunities look like in practice. This study was conducted in support of "Strengthening Science Education in California", a research, policy, and communications initiative. Partners in this…

Education Sector commissioned an earlier version of this collection of essays in conjunction with a March 2012 event "Getting to 2014: The Choices and Challenges Ahead." This updated version includes new essays and a revised introduction. The aim of these essays is to present ideas, elicit feedback, and encourage productive dialogue…

This "Adult College Completion Tool Kit" is designed to connect state administrators and local practitioners to the strategies, resources, and technical assistance tools resulting from the Department's work. States can use this information to identify and implement state adult education leadership priorities, supported by federal "Adult Education…

This research-based book provides details on how educators can dramatically increase student achievement. It offers experience-based ideas and strategies that can be applied to any school or district. The chapters are: (1) "Focus the Mission"; (2) "Increase Academic Rigor"; (3) "Establish Supportive Accountability"; (4) "Introduce Cooperative…

Cost control is the subject of this eight-lesson, three-test food service training manual. Lesson 1 deals with financial accountability and includes 17 handouts, ranging from sample balance to quarterly report sheets. Lesson 2 focuses on budgeting principles, and lesson 3 on labor controls. Professional purchasing, receiving, and inventorying…

This paper considers some of the similarities and differences between education and business in view of the fact that there are many who advocate that the public schools follow a business model in their operations. Salaries of executives in education, and superintendents in particular, tend to be lower than those of business executives, and their…

Discusses an assessment program in the geography department of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Describes the development of a senior proficiency examination. Suggests that the assessment process include development of meaningful curricular goals and strategies for implementation. Breaks the project down into phases: the search for funding,…

Legal ethics scholarship should abandon the debate between the "hired-gun" and "moral-activist" approaches to legal ethics. Many pressing issues can not be resolved through either approach. These critics have not brought us closer to a shared understanding of moral accountability for lawyers, or of what values should activate…

Examines the cooperative learning approach to elementary and secondary school history and social science instruction. Defines cooperative learning. Explains that students work in small, heterogeneous groups, in positive interdependence and are accountable both as individuals and group members. Provides details for teachers on how to get started.…

"Alternative certification" is a general term for nontraditional avenues that lead to teacher licensure. Alternative teacher certification programs (ACPs) are generally geared toward aspiring teachers who already have a baccalaureate degree but who require additional education methods coursework and classroom experience. Such programs vary in…

As educators become increasingly subject to accountability pressures, maximizing the worth of evaluation is a prudent and realistic stance. This paper suggests useful and valid art program evaluation models: (1) Stufflebeam's (1971) CIPP (context, input, process, and product) model; (2) Stake's Countenance Model (responsive evaluation); (3)…

North Carolina's educational reform effort is composed of three related programs--the Basic Education Program (BEP), the School Improvement and Accountability Act (Senate Bill 2), and a new system of state accreditation. Information about the complementary and interdependent connection among the three programs is provided in this publication. The…

Suggests that accountability in religious education is limited to the attainment of precise agreed-upon objectives. Recommends that students participate in the process of specifying objectives and that teachers state objectives in terms of measurable student outcomes. (DMM)