Outlines the Massachusetts and Virginia models for adult education courseware evaluation. Suggests ways to improve evaluation through state and regional resource centers and other collaborative efforts. (SK)

Interviews with state legislators from Wisconsin (D. Bezruki), Massachusetts (T. P. Kennedy), and Virginia (P. Leone) illustrate the roles that evaluation is playing in the current state budget crisis. The influence of evaluation data appears largely specific to individual programs rather than systematically applied to the budgeting process. (SLD)

Underscoring the need for improved supervision and evaluation policies as a means of increasing public confidence in the quality of education in Massachusetts public schools, this yearbook presents six articles describing supervision and evaluation innovations. Specific topics include a summary of recommendations compiled by the Study Committee in…

In May 1986, the Board of Regents of Higher Education in Massachusetts accepted a report of a statewide program review in postsecondary business administration education. This critique of the program review report focuses specifically on the board-adopted requirement that public senior institutions seek accreditation from the American Assembly of…

Statewide planning for higher education, with specific reference to Massachusetts, is discussed in a 1982 Alden Seminar position paper, comments regarding the position paper, and an overview of the overall seminar. In "One Half Revolution, One Half Status Quo: Remarks on A Long Range Plan for Public Higher Education in Massachusetts,"…

Comments on an article by Kotelchuck and colleagues concerning the benefits of WIC participation on pregnancy outcomes. Raises methodological considerations, especially the effects of duration of WIC participation and benefits, and the problem of matching study subjects with controls. (GC)

Who should be accountable for what beginning teachers need to know? This article first explains and illustrates three sets of knowledge and skills beginning teachers should have acquired in their preparation programs: academic knowledge needed for teaching the field of their license, generic professional knowledge and skills needed for teaching…

How widely adopted world history textbooks cover Islam and the history of the Middle East is a timely and important subject to explore. In 2001 the American Textbook Council began a comprehensive review of middle school and high school world history textbooks. The Council relied on respected historians and standard sources, influential articles…

An earlier article evaluating Massachusetts' recent long-range plan for higher education is criticized. Aspects of the plan omitted in the first article are noted, including state financing improvements, incentives for institutional action, and increased local autonomy. (MSE)

This sabbatical report surveys some computer software presently being developed, already in use, and/or available, and describes computer use in several Massachusetts colleges. A general introduction to computers, word processors, artificial intelligence, and computer assisted instruction is provided, as well as a discussion of what computers can…

Discusses recommendations made by the Massachusetts Advisory Council of Vocational-Technical Education to improve the quality of secondary vocational curriculum. The author examines how and why the recommendations were created, how a hugh agenda was whittled down in scope, and how the council decided to favor the development of "cluster…

Responds to Goodlad's article on teacher education's journey over the past century and its current malaise, suggesting that the rest of the journey is up to teacher education faculty, their university colleagues, and partners within communities and schools who must work to improve education. Describes Massachusetts' experience in attempting to…

Based on the premise that deficiencies in student learning are inherent byproducts of the traditional school structure, this study compares the effects of an experimental curriculum program on student learning with its traditional structural counterpart. The traditional school structure is characterized by a heavy teacher workload, segmented…

To accumulate the data necessary for making recommendations for the improvement of middle school reading programs in Massachusetts, such programs were assessed by computer searches, informal interviews, and random questionnaires. "TRANS," Teaching Reading Acquisition Natural to Subject Areas, embodies the kind of program needed to meet…

Teacher quality, however defined, is usually seen as the responsibility of schools of education. Rarely is it viewed as the responsibility of academic departments in the arts and sciences--that part of college or university where prospective teachers study the academic content they will draw on as teachers. Only recently has teacher quality come…