The federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) grants states more authority over their school accountability systems than did No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Hence, states have an opportunity to design improved school rating systems. Three of the most important improvements that states can make are to ensure that their accountability systems: (1)…

The United States is in an era of high-stakes evaluation of educators (i.e., teachers and principals), the results of which are used to inform human capital decision making (i.e., recruitment, hiring, retention, and dismissal), which in turn impacts school capacity and student learning. The present article describes the School System Improvement…

Local education agencies (LEAs) are working to manage and maintain commitment and enthusiasm to numerous initiatives mandated by the state to improve student success. The rapid pace of scaling up many initiatives at once often leads to relying on local administrators and educators to interpret and unpack the complexity of implementing these…

The Association Supporting Computer Users in Education (ASCUE) is a group of people interested in small college computing issues. It is a blend of people from all over the country who use computers in their teaching, academic support, and administrative support functions. ASCUE has a strong tradition of bringing its members together to pool their…

The feasibility of applying multiattribute utility theory to the needs assessment and priority-setting activities of human services planning councils was studied in Essex County (New Jersey). Decision-making and information filtering processes are explored in the context of community planning. (SLD)

This paper analyzes mastery learning as an alternative to curriculum planning and discusses implementation of the strategy in a prekindergarten through eighth-grade school district in Red Bank, New Jersey. The paper briefly describes district schools and circumstances affecting the school board's decision to implement mastery learning; discusses…

This school facilities evaluation instrument was used in a pilot survey of facilities in New Jersey, and will soon be used as part of a survey of all public school facilities in the state. While the pilot survey was made by an outside consultant, which will also be the case for the statewide survey, the instructions and format of this publication…

The "Preschool Teaching and Learning Expectations: Standards of Quality" sets a standard for preschool learning outcomes and serves as a benchmark for determining how effectively the classroom curriculum is being implemented. It provides the focus for curriculum determination and instruction for all preschool children ages three and…

The checklist and date distribution methods are used to evaluate the reference collections of two New Jersey Area Reference Libraries, an older, traditional single unit public library and a newer unit in a system of nine libraries. Three sectors of the reference collection are tested: reference books, abstracting and indexing services and serials.…

Discussion of the need for management training for librarians focuses on the New Jersey Library Leadership Institute, which was developed to provide such training for early career professional librarians working in New Jersey. Skills training, a mentoring component, and a practicum are described; and evaluation results are discussed. (LRW)

Describes a method for assessing the performance of public libraries using a standardized scoring system and provides an analysis of public library data from New Jersey as an example. Library standards and the derivation of measurement ratios are also discussed. A 33-item bibliography and three data tables are included. (JL)

This study is intended as a resource and a tool for those involved in the evaluation, monitoring, or self-review of school management teams. The information presented is based on first-hand experiences of n = 838 elementary and middle school teachers from 55 schools who were directly involved with the implementation and operations of school…

A project was conducted to design and implement an educational delivery system that incorporated both assessment and instructional services for adult basic education (ABE) exceptional learners in an urban adult learning center in New Jersey. Two areas were considered of priority in developing the project design: the development of an assessment…