This article describes accounts of grading reform initiatives that while well-intentioned, met with staunch opposition and eventually were abandoned. The implementation strategies employed by the leaders of these reform initiative are explored, along with reasons these strategies failed to result in meaningful and enduring change. Alternative…

The multidimensional issue of the representation of diverse students in special education has been a persistent and challenging concern for decades. Overwhelmingly, research outlining racial and ethnic disproportionality data have historically demonstrated stability in the overrepresentation of students of color in special education. However, the…

Over the past 10 years, since No Child Left Behind started pressuring school districts to focus on student test scores, many states have begun to consider student performance when evaluating teachers. This article will provide preventive measures of fairness and substantive due process to avoid potential teacher objections and gain teacher…

The Early Warning System is a tool developed by the National High School Center to collect data on indicators including attendance, grade point average, course failures, and credits earned. These indicators have been found to be highly predictive of a student's likelihood of dropping out of high school in large, urban areas. The Early Warning…

The use of value-added modeling (VAM) in school accountability is expanding. However, trying to decide how to embrace VAM can be rather nettlesome. Some experts claim it is "too unreliable," causes "more harm than good," and has "a big margin for error," while other experts assert VAM is "imperfect, but…

A comprehensive administrator evaluation program is essential for improving overall job performance, determining how well annual goals are achieved, pinpointing specific performance strengths and weaknesses, identifying specific professional development needs, and increasing understanding of the evaluation process. This article outlines procedures…

Drawing from personal experiences, writings, observations, evaluation training activities, and professional consultations, this article identifies 50 propositions inherent in personnel evaluation. Propositons fall into three categories: professional premises, contextual realities, and constraints. (MLH)

Although the practice is commonplace, the techniques for evaluating principals and assistant principals vary across the country. Four of the most frequently used evaluation processes and procedures are examined, based on case studies of four school districts in Ohio, North Carolina, Idaho, and Alabama respectively. (Author/TE)

The techniques of program evaluation parallel the historian's methods, which usually consist of mining both qualitative and quantitative sources. Test scores, questionnaires, and unobtrusive measures provide good quantitative data, whereas interviews supply important qualitative information. Researcher involvement in the project being assessed can…

Shows how a mastery teaching program was applied to one Iowa school district to improve and evaluate teacher performance. Emphasizes the principal's role in such a program. (JW)

Provides a twofold plan for staff development and peer evaluation linking evaluation and training of teachers. This process enables teachers to have their professional needs met while treating them as individuals and improving classroom skills. Includes a classroom observation checklist and a teacher evaluation system form. (MD)

Presents a portfolio assessment model that encourages teachers' professional growth while helping them evaluate their subject-matter knowledge; intellectual and problem-solving abilities; pedagogical skills; curriculum knowledge, insight, and skill; knowledge of learners and learning; and attitudes and dispositions. States that when teachers…

Art programs suffer from public misunderstanding and a general undervaluing of their content. This article presents new approaches to evaluating student art, particularly that afforded by the College Board's Advanced Placement Program in Studio Art, the Presidential Scholars in the Arts Program, and the National Arts Awards Program. (WD)

When the four administrators at a Wisconsin high school indicated they would appreciate staff feedback about their performance, union representatives undertook the task of formalizing an evaluation agreement, developing an evaluation instrument, implementing the evaluation process, and reviewing assessment procedures. The instrument and written…

Administrators at Edina-West Secondary School in Edina (Minnesota) are making the curriculum more specific through an integrated in-service evaluation plan. (Author/MLF)