Since its inception, the counseling profession has continuously developed a positive identity among the helping professions. This situation appears to be the result of advancements in counselor credentialing, improved counselor preparation standards, greater governmental and other third-party payer recognition of counselors' competencies, and more…

Beginning in 1990 with the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Statewide Systemic Initiative (SSI) program, science leaders at the state, district, and local levels increasingly have faced accountability issues. Today both private and public funding agencies recommend that proposed projects be based upon scientific research; that is, research…

For several decades, the Maltese educational system was almost entirely reliant on English examination boards for certification in secondary and post-secondary education. In the 1990s, Maltese policy-makers decided to establish an affordable local examination system aimed at a wide range of students. This paper focuses on the review of the…

This is one of the most important books on school leadership because it incorporates so much research evidence from the work of the two authors themselves, and such a perceptive and intelligent understanding of the research of others. It provides an opportunity for two of the senior researchers in the field over the last 20 years to reflect on…

Presents an interim vision of a performance assessment model for middle schools that is built on a culture of high expectations, internal accountability, and rites of passage expressed in student portfolios. Despite problems with portfolio work, all students and teachers must have ongoing experience with demanding tasks and high standards. Test…

Assessing students' achievement of the new national "Information Literacy Standards for Student Learning" is complex and involves the whole school. Assessment should be tied to content learning; measure students' ability to do and know; test real experiences; consider inquiry's overlapping, recursive nature; involve qualitative measures;…

This article reports results showing that the Independence, Missori school district failed to meet almost every one of its improvement goals under the No Child Left Behind Act. The state accreditation system stresses improvement over past scores, while the federal law demands specified amounts of annual progress toward the ultimate goal of 100…

In higher education, a university is typically loosely coupled with its suprasystems, but its various schools or colleges tend to be tightly coupled with the university, as are departments with their respective schools or colleges. Similarly, in the corporate sector, a training department is typically tightly coupled with the company management…

This study was designed to analyze the implementation of state and district mandated academic standards, assessment processes, accountability, and intervention strategies at the middle-school level. Its goal is to identify and describe intervention strategies that are effective in increasing the ability of middle school students in at-risk…

Western Illinois University's College of Education and Human Services has redesigned its teacher education program for pre-service elementary teachers. The redesigned program provides more classroom observations and onsite field experiences in the schools at earlier stages in student teachers' education and offers methods classes with integrated…

Diane Ravitch makes an articulate case for higher national standards and more emphasis on performance assessments of various kinds, but she does this by simplifying the issues and failing to understand some of the most powerful economic, ideological, and political currents in the United States and elsewhere. (SLD)

The No Child Left Behind Act is slated to be reauthorized in 2007, and both President Bush and the leaders of the incoming Democratic-controlled Congress have signaled their interest in keeping renewal of the law on schedule. Many observers expect the debate over renewing the law--which itself was a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary…

President George W. Bush has unveiled an activist education plan that requires states to improve their worst schools or face sanctions from the federal government. The plan would tie Title I money to the states' adopting "clear, measurable goals focused on basic skills and essential knowledge" and testing children every year in grades 3-8.…

At the fall 1996 Education Summit, 40 governors and 45 business leaders called for higher student achievement standards. This article provides some historical background for the standards-based education movement and introduces essays exploring the movement from various perspectives. Although some educators remain skeptical, standards-based…

The standards movement is in a state of crisis. Although states have made progress in developing and implementing standards, some standards-driven reforms and takeover sanctions represent significant threats to students and educators. Principals should focus on new opportunities to become instructional leaders, help teachers use standards to…