Opponents of educational choice recycle the same false prophesies of doom without regard to the evidence or the size and scope of the proposals. Part I of this report assesses the validity of choice opponents' predictions that choice policies will lead to significant losses of district school funding and declining academic performance. Part II of…

This paper outlines current trends, progress, and possibilities for fostering more authentic ways to assess students' competencies and mastery of skills needed for college, work, and civic life in the 21st century. It provides an introduction to performance assessments and their value. The authors highlight efforts to develop such assessments in…

To determine whether teachers, on average, improve in their effectiveness as they gain experience in the teaching profession, this brief summarizes the key findings from a critical review of the relevant research. A renewed look at this research is warranted due to advances in research methods and data systems that match student data with…

The three-tiered School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) model is now being implemented in more than 13,000 schools in the United States (Horner, Sugai, & Anderson, 2010). One core feature of Tier One of the SWPBIS model is the identification of social expectations and behavior indicators across all school settings.…

The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decisions in cases involving school districts in Seattle, Washington, and Louisville, Kentucky, seem to indicate that the United States is moving away from diversity in its public schools. In "Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1" (2007) and "Meredith v. Jefferson…

"Perspective" is a monthly e-newsletter presenting news and views from Achieve. This month's issue commences with a report stating how the number of states that ensure the college and career readiness of their students has increased since Achieve first started tracking progress on the college- and career-ready policy agenda five years…

For the forty-second time, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented at the annual AECT Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Proceedings of AECT's Convention are published in two volumes. Volume 1 contains 37 papers dealing…

As the 21st century's first decade draws to a close, America's public school students are participating in online academic classes in increasingly large numbers. More than one million K-12 public school students took online courses in the 2007-2008 school year, according to an estimate in a recent Sloan Consortium survey. This represents a 47…

This report presents the number of high school graduates, the Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate (AFGR), and dropout data for grades 9 through 12 for public schools in school year 2006-07. The counts of graduates, dropouts, and enrollments by grade (which serve as the denominators for the graduation and dropout rates) are from the National Center…

Across the United States the state education agency (SEA) is a "sleeping giant" with untapped potential to build instructional capacity in the nation's 110,000 public schools. The SEA is positioned to build the system-wide synergy requisite to achieve the unprecedented school-level student outcomes mandated by the No Child Left Behind…

Outlines current positions in the United Kingdom and the United States regarding pupil transition from elementary to secondary school. Presents U.S. findings as case studies from each state visited (New York, New Jersey, Kentucky, Florida, and Georgia), highlighting significant similarities and differences in organization and practice. United…

The Appalachian Math Science Partnership (AMSP) is a project within NSF's (National Science Foundation's) Math Science Partnerships (MSP) initiative. Funded at $23 million over five years, the AMSP involved 51 school districts and nine higher education institutions in Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. The AMSP faced two significant challenges in…

This volume of the K-12 Social Studies curriculum for exceptional children covers the history of America, Kentucky, and Louisville/Jefferson County, from the time of American Indian settlements in these areas to the present. The curriculum guide provides: (1) objectives which parallel, as nearly as possible, the general education social studies…

This monograph is designed to motivate and assist Kentucky vocational teachers in fulfilling their role in achieving sex fair vocational education. Section 1 describes the status of vocational education in Kentucky and the United States. These areas are covered: changing roles of men and women, composition of the labor force, undersupply of…

This monograph is designed to motivate and assist Kentucky guidance counselors in fulfilling their role in achieving sex fair vocational education. Section 1 describes the status of vocational education in Kentucky and the United States. These areas are covered: changing roles of men and women, composition of the labor force, undersupply of…