The Research and Development Exchange (RDx) is a network of regional educational laboratories and university-based research and development centers working to support state and local school improvement efforts. Primary recipients of the services of all regional exchanges are dissemination specialists in state education agencies. The Northwest…

This paper addresses a problem that educators have become painfully aware of: their occupation does not share all of the characteristics and benefits of established professions like law and medicine. Oregon is selected as a case study in the making of a profession because, along with California, it has moved farthest towards a true…

The Oregon state Title I office has developed two needs assessment guidebooks to assist districts in complying with Title I needs assessment regulations. The first guidebook was developed in 1974. Following its dissemination, needs assessment procedures in Title I districts were closely monitored for compliance with the regulations, and it was…

The education service districts (ESDs) in Oregon have been a strong force for staff development since 1849, a decade before statehood. This report outlines the organization of Oregon school systems over the past century, highlighting the creation of county superintendents, rural school districts, special education programs, and tax standards…

Between 1972 and 1974, Oregon adopted a series of comprehensive State Minimum Standards popularly titled "competency-based education." This paper addresses two types of research agendas that have emerged relative to these attempts to create a statewide reform. The first involves an ongoing research project whose purpose is to facilitate…

Writing teachers at the University of Oregon have established working relations in three different ways with teachers outside their department. First, they have set up sections of a required composition course to be taught in conjunction with courses in other disciplines; workshops to develop skills in handling students' writing are conducted for…

This paper describes Oregon's experiences with state performance requirements. It explains that these requirements cover three areas: budgeting on a program basis, providing a schooling environment designed to meet student needs through a systematic management process, and setting learning performance standards for students, including graduation…

Oregon's new graduation requirements represent a bold effort to implement a mandated statewide competency-based program at the K-12 public school level. All the various ramifications of instituting a change of this magnitude cannot be predicted at this early date, but one major effect already evident is that local school districts have begun to…