A biennial report of the Texas State Board of Education profiles status and accomplishments of 20 regional education service centers in Texas during 1985-86. The report emphasizes service center role in implementing educational reform by assisting schools to meet new accreditation standards, training appraisers for a legislatively mandated…

This report provides an overview of primary education in Austria. Section 1 describes: (1) the structure of the school system; (2) school organization; (3) admission to primary school; (4) premature admission to primary school; (5) deferral from school attendance; (6) official aims of primary education; (7) responsibility for the organization of…

This paper examines fiscal implications of five 1983 reports that recommend reform of America's schools. Greater rigor in curriculum and textbook content is a common report theme, while three call for specific graduation requirements. Generally, reports recommend increasing time for key courses and requiring regular homework, achievement tests,…

The Council of Chief State School Officers is in the process of assessing reforms that are aimed at improving science and mathematics education at the elementary and secondary levels. This document provides tabulations of the number of states that currently collect data on various indicators of science and mathematics education. Six categories of…

This overview of social research illustrates how the federal government increasingly relies on knowledge gained through research reports and studies for its planning and policy formation. The research reviews are grouped into five sections. The first section, the historical perspective, traces the increasing importance of the role of social…

Prepared to assist professional educators and researchers who want greater detail on certain aspects of the evaluation of the five-year Experimental Schools Program conducted by the Edgewood Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas, this supplement to the Final Report on the Edgewood School Plan is composed of abstracts that give the…

A case study of the Science Education Project, aimed at improving South African science education, revealed that tactics for in-service education identified as important for the success of educational innovations in developed countries are also appropriate in developing countries. However, the context of the developing country gives rise to…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) Graduation for All, A Right and a Responsibility: National Campaign to Focus on Increasing High School Graduation…

The three two-page briefs in this packet focus on ways that teachers and administrators can improve student achievement through emphasizing higher-level skills and improving learning conditions and school climate. "How Can We Use Effective Teaching Methods to Boost Student Achievement?" suggests enhancing students' questioning skills and expecting…

Given the range of student learning, behavior, and emotional problems experienced each day by teachers and families, meeting the challenge of supplying appropriate support is complex. Efforts to do so may be handicapped by the way in which student support interventions currently are conceived, organized, and implemented. Student supports are…

This paper, one of a series from the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education's (WICHE) project "Higher Education and the Economy of the West," presents a summary of interviews, conducted by the WICHE staff during the fall and winter of 1991-92 with 22 "Frontier Thinkers." Issues discussed included planning for the…

Classroom assessment and research are effective means of professional development for community college faculty. Assessment tests engage students in monitoring and evaluating their own learning, and encourage teachers to reflect on their classes from a learning perspective. Classroom research is learner-centered, teacher-directed, collaborative,…

This document consists of the 2000 edition of the "Education Policy Analysis Archives." The papers include: (1) "Teacher Quality and Student Achievement: A Review of State Policy Evidence" (Linda Darling-Hammond); (2) "America Y2K: The Obsolescence of Educational Reforms" (Sherman Dorn); (3) "Forces for Change in…

The Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center is engaged in a continuing effort to understand implications of an array of trends and policies affecting the state. This report examines the status of Kentucky's teacher workforce and offers recommendations on ways to enhance it. The five chapters are: (1) "Introduction"; (2) "Teacher…

Talk of accountability (or the lack thereof ) dominates current Canadian education debates. We're not alone in this regard. Mawhinney (1998) observes that "the educational reform agenda in many industrialized nations today is driven by a perceived crisis in accountability" (p. 98). Unfortunately, as Earl (2001) also reminds us,…