State and local officials are slowly untangling complicated webs of accountability, testing, and graduation policies, hoping to give thousands of students displaced by Hurricane Katrina a better handle on their academic standing. While officials in Texas, Tennessee, and Alabama offered some guidance to such students, school leaders in…

This book provides a brief historical review of outcomes assessment in higher education and a general guide to designing, implementing, and evaluating assessment programs. Chapter 1 provides several definitions of commonly used terms and a review of the major actors and the political context. It identifies factors contributing to the recent push…

Nine papers and associated remarks constituting the proceedings of the 1988 Norstar Conference concerning the assessment of performance in higher education, and two prefatory papers are presented. The prefatory papers are: (1) "A Context for Change: The Reform Movement in Higher Education" (Judith M. Holtan); and (2) "Models of…

The purpose of this study was to examine middle school principals' and teachers' perceptions of the current issues in middle school reading education and to identify the sources of information that these educators use and find helpful to keep informed reading issues. Participants were employed in the 14 middle schools of the Knox County School…

The Education Improvement Act instigated funding allocation reform, equalization and equity, system accountability, systemwide report cards, value-added assessment, and governance reform. The most dissatisfied educators are those in large, wealthier urban systems. Horizontal equity, accountability, and test results have improved throughout the…

The "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" examines what is arguably the single most powerful authority over the teaching profession: state government. This Tennessee edition of the National Council on Teacher Quality's (NCTQ's) "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" is the first of what will be an annual look at the status of state policies…

This year the Center on Education Policy analyzed data on the achievement of different groups of students in two distinct ways. First, it looked at grade 4 test results to determine whether the performance of various groups improved at three achievement levels--basic and above, proficient and above, and advanced. Second, it looked at gaps between…

This document is the Tennessee Board of Regents' (TBR's) second annual report card, which details the accomplishments of the state's public higher education institutions in four areas: student learning, academic programs, faculty productivity, and financial accountability. An overall status report is provided for the entire state system, followed…

Summarizes recent developments in educational adequacy and finance-equity court cases around the country, highlighting the differences and the relationship between traditional finance-equity claims and more recent educational adequacy claims. The most sweeping decision occurred in Alabama; a state trial court will monitor mandated reforms in…

In view of increasing financial pressures, this paper argues that a new approach to fiscal policy and to the structure of the financial relationship between state government and institutions of higher education is needed. A proposed three-part budget would include the following: (1) a base or core lump-sum budget managed by higher education…

Three teams of teachers and administrators from three adult basic education programs in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia participated in a 2-year action research project that focused on developing approaches that local programs can use to document the outcomes of student participation in adult education programs. Facilitators helped the teams…

Baseline data were obtained pertaining to needs assessment criteria and standards of performance as perceived by local secondary vocational administrators in Tennessee. All local secondary vocational administrators listed in the 1990-91 state directory were the eligible population. The survey consisted of 32 items with a Likert response scale.…

This document describes Tennessee's 1993 Master Plan for education and the state's progress toward achieving eight of its key goals. Goals are outlined for achieving results in the areas of early childhood education, primary and middle grades education, high school education, technology, professional development and teacher education,…

A pilot project in performance funding at Tennessee Tech University is described. The pilot project was part of a statewide "Performance Funding Project" sponsored by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC). The Performance Funding Project was designed to improve the formula appropriations process by determining the feasibility…

Members of the Tennessee General Assembly, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission and its staff, the State Board of Regents and its professional staff, and members of the Presidents' Council and Sub-Councils (N=237) were surveyed to identify the most critical issues facing Tennessee public community colleges and to develop implications for…