The Austin Independent School District (AISD) received $19,270,573 in federal Title I Part A entitlement funding in 2004-2005 to support schools' efforts to provide students with the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to meet state academic performance standards. This report summarizes program evaluation information for…

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), standardized test scores are the indicator used to hold schools and school districts accountable for student achievement. Each state is responsible for constructing an accountability system, attaching consequences--or stakes--for student performance. The theory of action implied by this…

This handbook provides P-16 council leaders with a toolkit of background information and proposed procedures for structuring and guiding implementation of Business-Higher Education Forum's (BHEF) proposed action plan. Specifically, it details a four-part nationwide action plan to improve overall pre-kindergarten through high school (P-12)…

This study finds that nearly every school in the Great Lakes states is threatened to fail the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements mandated by the federal "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) Act. NCLB holds schools and districts accountable for student achievement on state standardized tests and schools that do not make AYP face…

This appendix describes the analytical procedures used to project the status of schools in the Great Lakes state toward meeting AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) requirements from 2005 to 2014. To "make AYP," the school as a whole and each numerically significant subgroup must meet "Annual Measurable Objectives" (annual…

While some proponents of testing rest their hopes for stronger learning on the expectation that tests alone will motivate students to work harder, most posit that better learning will result primarily from better teaching--due to curriculum changes, greater attention to student needs, stronger teacher motivation, or focused investments in…

Beginners in many disciplines learn that correlation never proves causation, but sometimes, even in public health, correlation, mistaken for causation, becomes the basis for policy and great expenditures of public and private money. "True experiments" with random assignment to experimental and control groups hold a special place in the…

This paper is one of four individual case study reports presenting the qualitative findings from a five-year investigation of the impact of accountability reform on students with disabilities in four states, eight districts, and twenty schools. This case study report presents qualitative data collected over a four-year period--2001-2004--from…

This paper is one of four individual case study reports presenting the qualitative findings from a five-year investigation of the impact of accountability reform on students with disabilities in four states, eight districts, and twenty schools. This case study report presents qualitative data collected over a four-year period--2001-2004--from…

Special education instruction in the Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS) for students with learning difficulties is shamefully ineffective. These students, usually classified as having a "Specific Learning Disability" or "Speech and language impairment," comprise more than half of all children receiving special…

Students with disabilities across the nation, including Baltimore City, are failing to achieve their academic potential. Inadequate instruction and other inappropriate or unlawful practices cause and conceal the dysfunction of special education. At long last, the illusion and broken promises of special education have been publicly exposed. Under…

"ES Review" brings together in one publication recent Education Sector work that reflects both the reach of its policy projects and its commitment to translating the complexities of education policymaking for a wide range of audiences. Articles in this first edition of "ES Review" are: (1) Community College Confidential…

This document is one of four individual case study reports presenting the qualitative findings from a five-year investigation of the impact of accountability reform on students with disabilities in four states, eight districts, and twenty schools. This case study report presents qualitative data, collected over a two-year period--2001 and…

The purpose of this document is to provide operators with implementation and operational technical assistance related to special education in charter schools. Special education is a very complicated component of public education and providing operators with technical assistance regarding special education is particularly challenging. This primer…