The Mississippi State Department of Education Dissemination Program undertook a five-year plan from 1980-1985 to develop a coordinated, comprehensive statewide dissemination system for public school improvement throughout the state. The major objectives of the project were to develop the following: (1) a system for collecting, storing, retrieving,…

This paper presents the State of New Jersey Board of Education's evaluation of the Operation School Renewal (OSR) Program, a multi-year assistance program involving the urban school districts of Trenton, East Orange, and Neptune Township (New Jersey). Goals included the following: (1) attendance improvement; (2) reduction of disruptive pupil…

This paper gives a brief historical account of Wisconsin's Cooperative Educational Service Agencies (CESA's) and the need for changes, outlines some of the recommendations of a CESA fact-finding task force, and describes the current transition period. The first section describes the background and legislative history of the CESA, followed by an…

The Minnesota Dialogue on Education project was a comprehensive statewide survey of public opinion on educational issues conducted by the Minnesota Department of Education from September 1983 through February 1984. The project involved dissemination of 250,000 copies of a Dialogue on Education Study Guide with a questionnaire attached, followed by…

Thorough planning is required before implementing an examination for a high school diploma. It was decided in 1977 that Alabama educators would establish minimum competencies for grades 3, 6, and 9. The competencies for grade 9 then became the skills to be assessed on the Alabama High School Graduation Examination (AHSGE), first given to eleventh…

This paper summarizes the findings of a case study designed to determine if differences exist in the higher education planning and policy making process in Missouri and Oklahoma. A background and perspective section develops the definitions of key concepts relying on definitions from the work of Daniel Elazar. A section describing the study itself…

The seventh volume of a 10-volume report, this document discusses the findings of the study's state component, especially as the activities of the states relate to and are influenced by federal dissemination programs. An analysis of the dissemination and school improvement activities in 10 states revealed 2 distinct orientations. Some states were…