The Delaware Enhanced Assessment Grant (DE EAG) project was funded by the U.S. Department of Education in 2006 as an initiative to assist 10 state departments of education (SDE) teams, and local school district and high school teams, in implementing a comprehensive and balanced learning and assessment system (CBAS) with a strong emphasis on a…

The reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, December 3, 2004, (IDEA '04) and its implementing federal regulations, October 13, 2006, prompted the need to revise Virginia's special education regulations. Input was received from a Stakeholders Group that included school personnel, parents, consumers,…

During the National Association of State Directors of Special Education's (NASDSE) 2005 annual meeting, a panel of youth representatives challenged states to do a better job of including youth with disabilities in state-level decision making (e.g., as members of state advisory panels [SAPs] and/or transition councils). State directors of special…

Though most interactions between parents and school personnel about students with disabilities are positive and productive, disagreements can arise. Disputes may range in intensity from minor miscommunications to significant conflicts that trigger the use of procedural safeguards available under federal law. The Individuals with Disabilities…

What are the relationships between policy and evaluation within state departments of education? How does policy influence what is evaluated in such settings and how does evaluation inform policymaking? Directors of evaluation in six state education agencies address these issues through detailed descriptions of their operations: Gordon Ascher,…

This booklet contains the rules and regulations governing the certification of teachers and other school personnel in the state of Virginia. (JD)

Joseph A. Spagnolo, Virginia's new state superintendent, has boldly reorganized the state education department in ways unmatched by other states. He has eliminated 99 of the agency's 531 jobs and hopes to transfer the responsibility for adult education and proprietary schools to other agencies. In this interview, Spagnolo discusses his…

Peter Blake reports on new legislations and reforms in Virginia that provide colleges and universities more operational and administrative autonomy in return for their commitment to public goals for higher education. He traces the history and context of privatization in Virgina from 1988. During this time, the legislatively mandated Virginia…

This response by the Virginia Department of Education to House Joint Resolution No. 118 of the General Assembly of Virginia, which requested the Department of Education to study initiatives to advance computer-assisted instruction, is based on input from state and national task forces and on a 1986 survey of 80 Viriginia school divisions. The…

Uses Eisner's educational connoiseurship approach to illuminate larger organizational design issues and analyze and appraise Virginia State Superintendent for Public Instruction Joseph Spagnolo's reorganization plan. The analysis focuses on several design issues: fit/form, focus/function, force, and fulfillment. The Spagnolo design is constantly…

This paper describes the restructuring of the Virginia Department of Education, a process that began in 1990. Data were obtained from four sources: (1) Virginia Department of Education documents; (2) a prerestructuring study conducted by Price Waterhouse in 1989; (3) an evaluative report undertaken by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review…

Presents an interview with the former president of Northern Virginia Community College, Belle S. Wheelan, about her history-making role as Virginia's new secretary of education. (EV)

This article discusses legislative efforts to seek flexibility and to coax changes in the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Even before U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings had been confirmed in her job on Inauguration Day, a few states had begun testing her pledge to work with them in carrying out the No Child Left Behind Act in a…

Debate about teacher supply, demand, retention, and attrition has been renewed in recent years by an increased concern about the reduced numbers of prospective teachers entering teacher education programs, the high attrition rate of beginning teachers, and the resulting teacher shortages. U.S. schools are experiencing teacher shortages, especially…