This Spring 2002 issue of the occasional paper, CSR Connection, reports on information that builds the capacity of schools to raise the academic achievement of all students. The success of English language learners and Native American students in U.S. public schools has been, and continues to be, impeded by deep "disconnects" between schools and…

This publication is designed to help local administrators and teachers achieve the fundamental goal of the No Child Left Behind Act, that is, improved learning for all students. For administrators, it furnishes information useful for understanding the key issues that must be dealt with at the district, school, and classroom levels; provides a view…

This book explores the embodied narrative knowledge that educators hold and express in context and call forth in situations. It is about teachers and principals living and telling and reliving and retelling stories intuitively developed around metaphors borrowed from classical literature, music, drama, mythology, and children's literature to…

This paper focuses on standards-based teacher licensure in Alaska. Section 1, "Introduction," examines the history of schooling in the United States, noting different periods of reform. Section 2, "School Reform Since 'A Nation at Risk,'" discusses how that report shifted the focus for reform. Section 3, "Education…

This publication synthesizes recent research about standards-based education. It is intended to inform efforts to improve low-performing schools and create or sustain standards- based, high-performing learning communities. The five chapters are: (1) "Literacy for All Children" (aspects of literacy, reading, writing, and exemplary literacy teachers…

Analyzes educational practitioners' responses to the fundamental reforms proposed in President Bush's America 2000 educational reform initiatives. Considers national support for and resistance to three proposal essentials (accountability, choice, and deregulation). Discusses the efforts' possible derailment in favor of headline grabbing…

Western countries' energetic reform efforts over the past decade are having insufficient effects on student achievement. School improvement literature suggests that policy makers focus on classroom practice, develop varied curriculum and teaching programs, consider reform context and staff development, build capacity, and improve research and…

Jeb Bush campaigned for Governor on a clear and bracing set of education reforms in 1998. Having won office, he immediately pursued a dual track strategy of education reform: standards and accountability for public schools, choice options for dissatisfied parents. Florida lawmakers followed these reforms with additional measures, including…

This report presents findings about accountability from two longitudinal studies, the National Longitudinal Study of "No Child Left Behind" (NLS-"NCLB"), and the Study of State Implementation of Accountability and Teacher Quality Under "No Child Left Behind" (SSI-"NCLB"). The research teams for these two…

In 2005, Governor Tim Pawlenty and the Minnesota Legislature charged the Minnesota Office of Higher Education with developing an accountability system to measure the higher education sector's effectiveness in meeting state goals. Minnesota's leaders recognized that the knowledge, creativity and intellectual capacity of the state's people are the…

"Managing School Districts for High Performance" brings together more than twenty case studies and other readings that offer a powerful and transformative approach to advancing and sustaining the work of school improvement. At the center of this work is the concept of organizational coherence: aligning organizational design, human…

To learn more about district and school decision making for No Child Left Behind (NCLB) restructuring, the Center on Education Policy (CEP) turned to California, a state with a substantial number of schools in restructuring and several state and regional supports for making decisions about restructuring. In the summer and fall of 2005, CEP…

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) is recognized by the U. S. Department of Education as the accrediting body for colleges and universities that prepare teachers and other professional personnel for work in elementary and secondary schools. Through its voluntary, peer review process, NCATE ensures that accredited…

The Sunnyside Independent School District Board of Education selected Dr. Juan Martinez (pseudonym) as its new superintendent of schools by an unusually cohesive 7-0 vote in 2002. In describing the superintendent search, the local paper characterized the board as highly politicized and often divisive. So the board's unanimity in appointing Juan to…

Discussing an increased emphasis on accountability and assessment of student learning in the Illinois community colleges, this paper reviews efforts by two community colleges to improve student learning on their campuses. Following an overview of the literature addressing the paradigm shift at community colleges from teaching- to learning-centered…