The philosophy, strategies, and pitfalls of educational accountability, and information on the development and implementation of accountability programs are outlined in this conference report. Educational accountability is a term used in connection with activities such as assessment, evaluation, auditing, and performance contacting. The speakers'…

Effective teacher evaluation is at the core of improving the quality and value of education and principals bear the responsibility of implementing a teacher evaluation program that helps develop highly qualified teachers and promotes high academic standards. In this easy-to-use handbook, the authors offer a fresh, innovative look into teacher…

This publication, one in a series, is intended to bridge the information gap between what the research says and what actually transpires when various programs and reform initiatives are implemented in schools. This particular publication presents 30 questions to 5 participants of the Distinguished Principal Fellows program. The questions are…

This guide is based on a research study, "Successful Bilingual Education Programs: Development and Dissemination of Criteria to Identify Promising/Exemplary Practices in Bilingual Education at the National Level." The guide presents an analytic rubric for evaluating a school's success in educating English language learners. The rubric assesses…

This brief examines the impact of teaching on student achievement, necessary steps for ensuring teacher quality, and policies needed to support that effort. Research has identified the strong connection between student achievement and teacher preparation and skills. Efforts to generate consistently high teaching levels across all classrooms must…

Although early intervention programs have enjoyed popular and legislative support, little hard data exist on the long-term consequences of these efforts. This study examined the long-term effects of the Child-Parent Center (CPC) program in Chicago. Begun in 1967, the program operates out of 24 centers, located in proximity to the elementary…

This report presents data from surveys of teachers, students, and principals on issues such as teaching quality and methods, school environment, expectations, attitudes, and job satisfaction. High-quality teaching is associated with students' having more positive attitudes about learning, school, and their futures. It is also related to…

On locally developed surveys, community college students indicated academic and personal concerns before and after transfer to a four-year institution and compared both institutions in attention given to six academic skill areas: overall instruction; abstract thinking; reading; written work; library use; and personal attention by faculty. (MSE)

Pursuing fiscal input equity will not produce a more equitable society or mitigate children's home and neighborhood environments. Standardizing funding provokes greatest voter dissatisfaction in wealthier districts. Four institutional elements (teachers' unions, school governance, school discipline restrictions, and special education) produce…

Recent accreditation guidelines of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, as well as various legislative initiatives, require two-year institutions in Kansas to develop measures of student achievement as part of their overall assessment of institutional effectiveness. In July and August of 1992, a subcommittee of the Kansas Council…

This document is the state-wide strategic plan for public and private higher education in the 1990s in South Carolina. The plan was developed in response to the State Legislative Act 629, "The Cutting Edge." The plan rests on three principles: (1) ensuring access to education to all South Carolinians at whatever levels of student…

A national study assessed attitudes of minority and nonminority parents and nonparent adults on parent involvement and other educational issues. Telephone interviews with 1,148 adults, including 806 parents with at least one child in kindergarten through grade 12 and 342 adults (called "nonparents") who did not have children in those…

The central issue in education today is whether education has kept up with the fundamental and far-reaching changes in the economic and social structure of this nation. We must have a new ideal of American education grounded in the practical and hard-earned lessons of the last 10 years: that children who come to school healthy are engaged and…

Past and current methods used in academic quality rankings of U.S. colleges and universities are discussed. In addition to a literature and historical review, modern quality rankings are compared with early (pre-1959) rankings, including past rankings of medical, dental, legal and black education. Also considered are the exemplary 1982 evaluation…

Changes at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), begun when the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) initiated a funding mechanism designed to promote assessment and improvement of quality, are chronicled. Implications for program evaluation, planning, and resource allocation in other state colleges and universities are also…