The purpose of this study was to determine what, or part of what, makes academic success probable or improbable for a student. The core research question was, Which practices, characteristics, and circumstances of students, families, schools, school districts, and communities tend to give Maine students a higher probability of meeting state…

Governors and state and local education officials assumed that raising student achievement in the elementary and middle grades would solve the problems with high schools--but it hasn't. Why? Good information is the basis for successful improvement, and high school reform lacks accurate information about what students are to learn and about how…

The students and teachers at Hoover High School in San Diego, California, have made significant progress in their quest to meet accountability standards and ensure that all students learn to read, write, and think at increasingly complex levels. In 1999, Hoover High was the lowest performing high school in the city of San Diego and one of the…

Politicians have been fascinated with choice and diversity in schooling provision for more than a decade now and this intense interest shows no sign of abating. In this article, the author suggests that the precise connection between choice and diversity in schooling provision is very little understood, and that the relationship between them…

According to the DfES Standards website, the Key Stage 3 National Strategy is part of the Government's agenda for transforming secondary education. It is a whole school improvement strategy which aims to provide "a platform for professional development across the school through its emphasis on teaching and learning"; and to foster…

Principals set the tone and create visions for innovation and change. Mounting research about the brain tempered with cautions of over interpretations can aid the principals to provide leadership in implementing more brain compatible schools. Practical strategies encompass the emotional environment of the school, policies, and procedures that…

Education Resource Strategies (ERS) works with school and district leaders to help them more strategically use resources--people, time, and money--to improve student performance. They have found that many school districts begin creating small high schools without a clear sense of how much they will spend or how to ensure that small schools…

The importance of state academic standards soared in January 2002 with passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Not only does that milestone law require all states to have demanding academic standards in place and to demonstrate steady student progress toward academic proficiency as set forth in those standards, it also links states'…

Governors and state and local education officials assumed that raising student achievement in the elementary and middle grades would solve the problems with high schools--but it hasn't. Why? Good information is the basis for successful improvement, and high school reform lacks accurate information about what students are to learn and about how…

Recent concerns about "fairness" in university entrance have highlighted the need to review existing practices in admissions processes. The agendas for equity and social inclusion, however, must also apply to the processes and outcomes of higher education, where considerations of "standards" are additionally crucial. As…

A committee of secondary school and college educators met in 2001 to develop content standards for teaching public school history. Adam Scrupski came away from that meeting amazed at the arrogance with which they imposed on New Jersey students, the firmly held belief that the story of America is predominantly one of capitalist, imperialist…

During the last quarter of the century several universities including those in Michigan, Illinois, and Texas launched initiatives to ensure that high schools' academic standards prepared students for admission to the state university. This paper illuminates affiliation programs that foreshadowed the accreditation movement. Not only did affiliation…

While California community colleges are open to all students eligible and able to benefit, most students must demonstrate that they are ready for college-level academic work by passing the college's placement exam once they enroll. Because California does not explicitly define college readiness standards for high school students, the placement…

Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

Instructionally supportive accountability tests (a) measure students' mastery of only a modest number of extraordinarily important curricular aims; (b) describe what is to be assessed in clear, teacher-palatable language; and (c) report each student's results for every curricular aim assessed. To determine the suitability of such assessments to…