In this paper, a companion piece to "Strategic Designs: Lessons from Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools" (ED544382), the authors analyze small high school spending in three urban districts--Baltimore City, Boston, and Chicago--to understand whether it is higher than in larger schools; if it is, why it is different; and the policy…

Urban Teacher Residencies (UTRs) are an emerging innovation designed to embody best practices in recruitment, screening, preparation, placement, induction, and teacher leadership for urban school districts. UTRs can be a key element of urban districts' portfolio of pathways into teaching and a lynchpin of a larger strategy to strengthen the…

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…

With the enactment of the NCLB mandates, emphasis on high-stakes testing became more prevalent than ever. Some argue that high-stakes tests can be a driving force behind fundamental change in schools. Whether or not this type of test-driven change leads to school improvement is an empirical question. What we do know is that high-stake testing can…

Examined the impact of client need scores in the allocation of resources for community mental health services in Massachusetts. Indicated no significant difference in allocation between groups relative to client need, with resources being distributed evenly across geographic areas. (Author/ABB)

An interesting econometric problem is to decide whether any given state in the budget process is an example of the political or the bureaucratic model of budgeting. The current paper presents a method of deciding this question and then uses it to study local governmental spending on education. The method is based on the important difference…

This survey presenting raw data for the planning of resource sharing and other cooperative library activities in Massachusetts focuses on the borrowing and lending characteristics of libraries with regard to nonresident borrowing activity. It is intended to provide up-to-date estimates of such activity, formulate long term solutions to fiscal…

Describes a process undertaken by small, rural libraries in Massachusetts in which trustees, librarians, and community leaders identified the possible roles of libraries and prioritized needs for individual communities. The results include an emphasis on community standards rather than national, and a list of three basic roles of all libraries.…

Labeled a "citizen assessment," this study evaluates the effects of Massachusetts 2-1/2 during the first year after its enactment. The law limited taxes and changed laws relating to school budgets. The study focused on two areas: (1) the effect of loss of fiscal autonomy on school budgeting procedures, and (2) the changes in school…

The present monograph has been "written with a view" to presenting in a simple and concise manner to the general educational public the most significant conclusions reached in the course of an extensive study of school finance, continued for several years and covering a number of states. Some of the data have been taken from bulletins of…

Grant funds totaling over $136 million were awarded during fiscal year 1988 to 408 Massachusetts educational agencies, pursuant to the Massachusetts Public School Improvement Act (Chapter 188) and An Act Enhancing the Teaching Profession and Recognizing Educational Achievement (Chapter 727). Twelve grant programs reaching virtually every school in…

In this paper, the author talks about resources and resourcefulness and focuses on the theme that resources include all means of support. Human resources, particularly creativity, intellect, and diligence, are among the most valuable. In times such as these, academic departments and programs in kinesiology, physical education, exercise science,…

This report is one of nine detailed case studies of small urban high schools that served as the foundation for the Education Resource Strategies (ERS) report "Strategic Designs: Lessons from Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools." These nine schools were dubbed "Leading Edge Schools" because they stand apart from other high…

In November 1980, Massachusetts citizens voted to limit the allowable increase in local property tax revenue by supporting a state-ballot referendum named Proposition 2 1/2. This paper presents findings of a study that examined changes in both the sources and extent of funding for public education in Massachusetts communities during the first…

During the New York hearings, testimony pertinent to the bills was presented by such speakers as Hon. Herman Badillo, Representative in Congress from New York State, and Dr. Ewald Nyquist, New York State Commissioner of Education. Such documents as "An abstract of a three-year longitudinal study to assess the fifteenth point…