In compliance with mandates of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Arizona Department of Education has completed its evaluation of effectiveness for state and locally administered programs in the context of Arizona's existing Chapter 2 goals. The evaluation focused first on state-administered programs and then considered locally…

This final report summarizes the activities of the I'M SPECIAL Program of Physical Education for the Handicapped. The 3-year project was designed to provide leadership training for physical education and special education university professors and state and local education agency personnel in the effective use of the I'M SPECIAL Instructional…

This report recommends measures to improve elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education in Iowa while providing universal access to education. The proposal stresses unified goals throughout the state's educational system, while retaining local discretion over curriculum. Although the report emphasizes high school-to-college articulation, it…

This paper presents the three year process used in developing a teacher evaluation model for the Fort Worth (Texas) Independent School District. Based on Dr. Richard Manatt's School Improvement Model for Teacher Performance Evaluation, the purposes of the model were to improve teaching skills and to enable valid and reliable judgements concerning…

Promotes the Every Teacher a Researcher program of the National Science Teachers Association. Encourages teachers to become involved in three types of action research with regard to cooperative learning in science. These are replicating, refining, and extending. Includes program registration form for interested teachers. (TW)

This study examined whether the Chicago Annenberg Challenge promoted improvement in schools it supported and in student achievement and other outcomes; factors that might explain improvement or lack thereof among Annenberg schools; and what could be learned from the Challenge's experiences. It highlighted the period between 1996-1997 through…

Reports on the evaluation of the Model Clinical Teaching Program, a year-long program for preservice teachers which emphasized the realities of teaching, enriched the work of veteran teachers, and improved classroom learning via university-school system teaming. Opinions of both interns and clinical instructors are reported. (SM)

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is a much debated and studied construct. In this article, we adopt an all-embracing view of PCK to examine the development of one elementary science teacher's knowledge over a 10-year period. We portray this teacher's knowledge at three critical points in her career--as a student teacher, beginning teacher, and…

This State model for teacher evaluation meets the requirements of Tennessee's Comprehensive Education Reform Act of 1984 (CERA). Special guidelines, approved by the State Board of Education for the beginning year of CERA (1984-85), are incorporated into the State model for local evaluation. Groups who must be evaluated during the 1984-85 school…

An evaluation is presented of the Stallings Classroom Management Staff Development Demonstration Project, designed to increase student achievement in basic skills through the use of research-based, systematic change in teachers' classroom management and organizational techniques. One objective of the evaluation was to utilize techniques and to…

Edvantia, Inc. (formerly AEL) publishes "TransFormation" twice a year to provide policymakers with interpretive summaries of significant reports and rigorous studies about school transformation, giving special attention to research with possible implications for improving low-performing schools.This final print issue of…

Business leaders created New American Schools (NAS) to develop "break-the-mold" designs for schools serving grades K-12. The notion of a design was meant to convey a coherent and comprehensive set of school-level practices that unified a school behind a goal of high performance by all students. These practices would cover all grades, all students…

Legislative and programmatic efforts to improve teacher quality have become a major focus of state policymaking in recent years. States have employed numerous strategies in response to concerns about the preparation, quantity, and capacity of the teacher workforce. In this chapter, the authors introduce conceptual frameworks for understanding…

The area of teachers' continuing professional development (CPD) is of growing interest internationally. However, while an increasing range of literature focuses on particular aspects of CPD, there is a paucity of literature addressing the spectrum of CPD models in a comparative manner. This article therefore considers a wide range of international…

Disputing the claim that improved student learning requires stronger academic standards and stiffer tests, the authors of this book contend that effective state reform depends on coherence in policy and practice, and opportunities for professional learning. It draws on a study of a program in California that worked to improve mathematics teaching…