The Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs) are a networked system of 10 organizations that serve the educational needs of 10 designated regions across the United States and its territories. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is authorized by the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA) to award contracts to 10 RELs to support applied research,…

The Building State Capacity and Productivity (BSCP) Center released a report outlining a process for state education agencies (SEAs) to evaluate and improve their System of Recognition, Accountability, and Support (SRAS). The federal government now sets high expectations for state and local use of federal dollars while allowing greater state…

This analysis of selected diffusion and dissemination methods used by developer-demonstrator projects in the National Diffusion Network discusses strategies under the following headings: managing the project, developing materials, disseminating information, conducting awareness sessions, training personnel, using certified trainers, providing…

Explores the link between the management of fiscal retrenchment and the need for more effective schools. Describes school improvement strategies based on the school effectiveness research and on past experience with educational change programs. A final section discusses the potential role of these strategies in the larger context of educational…

This final report describes the activities and accomplishments of the Consortium on Inclusive Schooling Practices, a federally-funded 5-year project to investigate the utility of a systemic approach for building the capacity of state and local education agencies to provide inclusive educational services. The project focused on four states…

The role of educational field agents was examined as part of a longitudinal study of external assistance in school change. Six employees of Research for Better Schools (RBS), working as change agents in five schools, served as subjects for the study. Data were collected through extensive observations and interviews. The field agents performed…

Research findings concerning a class of rational strategies that emphasize linking schools with outside knowledge and expertise are summarized, with special attention given to findings from five recent or soon-to-be-completed studies. This report consolidates, organizes, and interprets the quantitative research evidence concerning the roles,…

This book is the fourth of four volumes in a directory of more than 1,000 discretionary grants and contracts supported by the Research to Practice Division of the Office of Special Education Programs. This volume focuses on projects concerned with technical assistance, dissemination, parent information, and state improvement. The Technical…

The Center for Vocational, Technical, and Adult Education (VTAE) Staff Development Workshops and Services project was designed to provide technical support and training to selected VTAE personnel in techniques for implementing equity programs, establish a statewide advisory committee to develop a long-range plan for infusing sex equity concepts…

This final report describes the PEERS (Providing Education for Everyone in Regular Schools) Project, a 5-year collaborative systems change project in California to facilitate the integration of students with severe disabilities who were previously served at special centers into services at regular schools and the integration of students in special…

The Configurational Theory of Innovation Diffusion, Planned Change, and Development, or the CLER model, can be an effective tool for planning change events such as those involved in developing or improving a vocational education program. The C in the CLER model stands for configurations and configurational relationships among and between the…

Presenting information regarding second-year activities of the Consortium of States to Upgrade Indian Education through State Departments of Education, this report includes the following: acknowledgments; data re: funding; background; second-year consortium activities; participation (a map depicting the 13-state membership and a list of Consortium…

This final report discusses the activities and outcomes of the Elementary and Middle Schools Technical Assistance Center (EMSTAC), which has developed a model of special education technical assistance (TA) to local school districts that can be implemented on a national scale. This report provides a comprehensive examination of EMSTAC's support to…

This final report describes the Michigan Inclusive Education Initiative, a 5-year federally supported project designed to provide statewide training and technical assistance to schools, policy analysis and development, leadership development, and related activities to facilitate integration of students with disabilities into regular education…

This document reports on phases 2 and 3 of the Phare Special Preparatory Programme for the European Social Fund (SPP-ESF), which involved national, supplementary, and local seminars to assess the following countries' needs for assistance from the ESF: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, the Slovak…