Recent decades have witnessed a proliferation of nationally organized school reform interest groups like StudentsFirst. While historically active at the state and federal levels, these organizations are increasingly involving themselves in local school board elections by recruiting candidates, making donations, and offering policy advice. However,…

In October 2010, WestEd's Strategic Literacy Initiative (SLI) won an i3 "Validation" grant to scale up and validate the Reading Apprenticeship (RA) model in three core secondary content area classes: U.S. history, biology, and English language arts. SLI's proposal stated two goals. Goal 1: To transform academic literacy teaching and…

For years, researchers studying organizations and management have been interested in how well individuals "fit" with their work environment (Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, & Johnson, 2005), finding strong relationships between increased fit and positive employment outcomes, including increased performance and retention (Kristof-Brown et…

Charter schools have been the subject of much education policy research, particularly related to student achievement, governance, funding, and student composition. Although high-quality teachers are essential for the educational success of any school, much less research exists on charter schools' ability to recruit talented teachers. This study…

Principals from 246 high schools in Washington state responded to a questionnaire survey of the speech communication programs offered in that state's secondary schools. The 85-item questionnaire elicited information on the basic course offerings, advanced courses, extracurricular speech communication activities, and the training and experience of…

Immediately after the November 1978 general election, the Education Finance Center of the Education Commission of the States conducted a public opinion poll by telephone in four states that had tax and expenditure limitation measures on the ballot: Colorado, Ohio, Michigan, and Oregon. Those who voted positively and negatively on both tax cut…

A study sought to determine the extent to which social workers were called upon to engage in applied communication tasks and to determine various perceptions that social workers held of their responsibilities in the area of applied communication. The 500 respondents selected from a list of Michigan-licensed certified social workers filled out…

A telephone survey conducted in Lansing, Michigan, in 1976, which segmented voters according to their orientations on a proposed state bill to ban nonreturnable beverage bottles, is described in this paper. First, background is presented on the issue of returnable versus nonreturnable bottles, the main provisions of the proposed bill are listed,…

A survey was conducted among 139 elementary public, private, parochial, charter, and home school teachers to help Kingman Museum in Battle Creek, Michigan re-establish educational programming with area schools after having been closed for two years. The purpose of the study was to identify museum programs that teachers are most likely to use, the…

This study examined characteristics of never married fathers adjudicated in the Third Judicial Circuit of Michigan as legal and biological fathers. Participating were 39 fathers with Parenting Time Orders (PTO) and 25 with Reserved Parenting Time Orders (RPTO) (the father lacks legal parental access to his child). Sixty percent of the fathers were…

Surveys were mailed to a sample of Michigan internists and family practitioners (N=2060). This study examined influences on (1) how confident physicians feel about treating a particular problem, (2) where they look for assistance and advice, and (3) what level of continued involvement in the patient's care they prefer. (MLW)

A survey, designed to take approximately 15 minutes to complete, was administered to 1,656 elementary school teachers in Michigan to obtain information on a variety of topics related to student assessment and mandated state testing. Most of the teachers were employed in small suburban or urban schools, and 88% were employed in the public schools.…

This publication summarizes results of a survey designed to measure the attitudes of elementary school students, parents, teachers, and support staff toward the objectives and performance of the Lansing (Michigan) public schools. The survey was designed to measure the impact on public attitudes of a multischool "cluster" integration plan…

A statewide survey was conducted by the Michigan State Board of Education to determine public opinion on teacher competency testing. Concern about the quality of education in the United States has risen as students' performance on achievement tests has declined. Accountability, competency, and effective teaching are often seen as synonymous with…

This paper presents results of a survey of 297 parents in Michigan regarding their knowledge of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAS/FAE), including their knowledge of the characteristics that typify alcohol-related birth defects and prevention measures. Parents surveyed had children in preschool regular education, preschool…