This research brief presents an overview of a 2004 study by G.S. Shannon and P. Bylsma entitled "Characteristics of Improved School Districts: Themes from Research" (Olympia, WA: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction). The authors reviewed more than 80 research articles that investigated the attributes of schools and districts …

Over the last decade, concern over the nation's global economic status and the role of public education in preparing workers has led to a push for standards reform. Two converging reform strategies have emerged: (1) to create a voluntary system of academic standards for K-12 students, and (2) to create a voluntary system of industry-skill…

As part of the educational reform movement, states and local districts have implemented outcomes-based accountability for student outcomes. Outcomes-based accountability systems are using results of both traditional assessments, such as norm-referenced tests, and authentic performance assessments in an effort to measure broad domains of student…

This study focuses on the Competency Based Education (CBE) movement in a small Ohio school district, asking whether it represents radical change or reenforces status-quo social stratification. CBE was a product of the recent public demand for more educational accountability. It is a radical shift from traditional U.S. education insofar as it…

In a survey of 1,500 administrators, most of the 400 respondents agreed by an 8 to 1 margin that reforms to raise academic standards in public schools are necessary. In high schools, a decline in reading, vocabulary, and math skills is due basically to a decreased academic emphasis. Solutions include more required courses, more opportunities for…

Proposals for reform in teacher education from major organizations are reviewed, summarized, and compared in this document. Concise analyses are presented of: (1) The Need for Quality (Southern Regional Education Board, 1981); (2) "Educating a Profession: Profile of a Beginning Teacher" (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education…

The high degree of autonomy college faculty members exercise in organizing and teaching courses suggests that faculty perceptions of educational purposes, subject matter structure and importance, and expectations for student learning are major determinants of educational success. Despite diversity and local autonomy present in its system, American…

Interest in applied performance testing and concern about the quality of the high school diploma are finding a common ground: graduation requirements. A competency is a complex capability applicable in real life situations, and can be used as program objectives in a competency-based, criterion-referenced program. In such a program, applied…

Over the last several years, an understanding has been developing within the literature as to those elements which can best combine to produce increased student achievement within a small school environment. Many see such elements as, relationships, standards, rigor, student engagement, and others as part of a comprehensive whole. What is not…

This technical report on the National Association of Educational Progress (NAEP) 1996 State Assessment Program in Science provides an overview of the design, implementation and analysis of the educational assessment including details of sampling design, field administration, preliminary data analysis, and reporting of state results. This report…

The National Consortium on Inclusive Schooling Practices (1996) developed a framework to analyze state and local policies and their effects on school inclusion. The framework focuses on standards-based systemic reform across six major policy areas: curriculum, student assessment, accountability, personnel development and professional training,…

At a time when college degrees are increasingly a prerequisite for middle-class wages, less than 40 percent of college students are able to demonstrate proficiency on literacy tests, barely half of college students graduate on time, and many do not graduate at all. At the same time. the price of college continues to increase quickly and…

The report of the National Academy of Education (NAE), "Setting Performance Standards for Student Achievement," provides an interpretation of NAE investigations into the procedures surrounding establishment of achievement levels for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The NAE report synthesizes the investigations of…

This literature review compares international and New Zealand research and international program information on teacher competencies and preservice and inservice teacher education, addressing two issues: (1) what literature identifies as key competencies required by quality beginning and practicing teachers in the current social, economic, and…

After providing evidence of the decline of student academic ability and identifying some of the factors influencing this decline, this paper examines the role of community colleges in providing compensatory education for the growing population of students who are underprepared for college-level work. This examination begins by tracing the…