Evaluation policy and how it is determined in a major school district are examined, using a qualitative case study approach. Focus is on stimulating dialogue on these issues toward the development of a theory of the way evaluation and policy interact in a large school district. The experience of the Portland Public Schools (PPS) in Oregon in…

In the 1981-82 school year, the Austin Independent School District used trained dogs and handlers to detect illegal drugs and alcohol on the campuses of two high schools. The appendixes of the evaluation designed to gather useful data concerning program effectiveness are presented here. Data from a survey of staff and students, interviews with…

The historical context for planning by the California Postsecondary Education Commission is considered, with attention to seven major planning documents. Information is provided on the origins, methods, and conclusions of the studies, as well as the relationship among the studies and the effects on master planning conducted since 1974. The titles…

Educational policy in British Columbia does not distinguish between special needs and regular class students in relation to discipline practices. Although Canadian courts have generally upheld the rights of school boards rather than the unspecified rights of special needs children, a recent court case suggests the possibility of change. (JW)

In 2001, Illinois was one of 15 states across America selected and funded by the Wallace Foundation, in cooperation with the National Council for State Legislatures, National Governors' Association, Education Commission of the States, Council of Chief State School Officers, and the National Association of State Boards of Education, to plan,…

The Legislative Audit Bureau of the State of Wisconsin analyzed financial issues concerning the Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC). The MATC District is the largest district in Wisconsin's technical college system, with 12,504 FTE students enrolled and 1,944 staff in the 2001-02 academic year. Operating expenses for that year were $152.0…

A report sponsored by the National Association of State Boards of Education examines the equity and adequacy of school finance at the state level. The quality of education is still largely determined by where a child lives. Since 1989, more than a dozen school systems have been ruled unconstitutional by state high courts. It has been unclear who…

Examines two reform efforts that indicate promising strategies for changing and improving urban school district decision- and policy-making systems, particularly as those systems reflect the relationships among boards of education, school superintendents, and the school district bureaucracy. (Author/IRT)

The common ground process is an ongoing effort for inviting, scrutinizing, debating, and selecting ideas or making decisions about improving schools. Superintendents should assign a full-time communications person to executive staff, create a communications team, conduct a full-scale communications audit, listen better, urge the silent majority to…

According to one survey, good elementary schools have a strong sense of purpose and are committed to teamwork and staff development. A school board can instigate major improvements by developing a clearly stated policy affirming district commitment to sound early childhood education practices. A sidebar summarizes five characteristics of good…

Greece has used elements of the Commission of the European Communities' pilot projects and proposals to develop a procedure integrating three steps: a self-evaluation process culminating in a report prepared by the higher education institution or department, an external peer-review evaluation, and publication of the report. (18 references) (MLH)

High school students no longer keep company with the grown-ups they are about to become. Schools and districts have grown exponentially larger, impersonal, and bureaucratic, resembling post offices. Superintendents and boards who know their schools only through media representations or statistics fashion unrealistic policies. Coercion and…

The focus is on partitioning the evaluation of the consequences of assessment programs among the sponsors, developers, users, and reviewers of tests. Five parties that share responsibility are discussed: (1) the state legislature, (2) the state board of education, (3) the school district, (4) the test publisher, and (5) the measurement profession.…

This study examined superintendents' perceptions of current performance evaluation practices and their preferences for those practices. Specifically, 1,125 superintendents across the nation received a questionnaire exploring evaluation effectiveness and results-based procedures. Findings indicate practices are neither uniformly effective nor…

If the notion of public and private spheres seems somehow quaint or old-fashioned, the distinction between public and private corporations will be that much more obscure. Yet Channel One broadcasts in a public school classroom are indisputably the result of a contract between a private corporation (Alloy Media + Marketing) and a public corporation…