This case study examined a multi-college community college district in northern California in a primarily rural area, to understand how their practices compared to management best practices designed to improve student success, barriers that may exist in implementing best practices, and how the institution may improve its own practices. The problem…

This report is one of a series of papers on policy alternatives commissioned by the California Legislature's Joint Committee on the Master Plan for Higher Education. Most of the papers are directed toward synthesis and analysis of existing information and perspectives on the role of research in California. Topics cover the categories of research…

The California Commission for Teacher Preparation and Licensing, responsible for teacher certification and approval of programs of teacher education, is conducting a major research effort to identify teaching behaviors that are related to student learning of reading and mathematics in the elementary grades: The Beginning Teacher Evaluation Study.…

After several lengthy evaluations of California's Early Childhood Education (ECE) program proved inadequate, unhappy legislators and educators finally found satisfaction in a brief, mimeographed report. Several factors were responsible for the success of this new evaluation, the "Interim Report on the Special Study of Selected ECE Schools…

In light of growing concern for the measurement of educational effectiveness, this paper advocates institutional research at the community college level in California's community colleges to answer crucial questions concerning students, programs, and communities and urges trustees and administrators to use research results to inform decision…

Highlights are presented from 10 critical papers prepared by a panel of experts to describe the relevance of the Statewide Longitudinal Study (SLS) of California community college (CCC) students to each panelist's area of expertise, to identify policy issues or considerations related to SLS data, and to prepare recommendations. The paper begins by…

The special issue of the journal is devoted to a variety of historical, educational, and policy issues arising in the debate over establishing English as the single official language of the United States. Articles on this topic include: "Bilingual Education and English-Only: A Language Planning Framework" (Nancy H. Hornberger);…