An overview of educational reforms during the 1980s (1978-88) and their effects is presented for use by policy makers, practitioners, and interested citizens. The first section of this report, called "The Reforms of the 1980s", is based largely on a 50-state survey and a research report, both commissioned by the Educational Testing…

Based on telephone interviews with educational officials from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, an overview of the use and impact of standardized tests in the United States during the 1986-87 school year was developed. In addition to interviewing officials from all state departments of education, officials from 56 sample school districts…

Based on needs expressed by representatives from many Wisconsin school districts, this publication presents guidelines for introducing, enhancing, and evaluating the use of computer technology in schools. The first chapter provides a brief overview of the impact of computers on education and a list of principles for promoting their use in schools.…

THIS REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE LOS ANGELES CITY SCHOOLS TO THE BOARD OF EDUCATION PRESENTS IN DETAIL THE SPECIFIC WAYS IN WHICH THE BOARD'S DIRECTIVES ON EQUALIZING EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTED. THE 27 DIRECTIVES DEALT WITH THE GENERAL POLICY OF EQUAL EDUCATION, THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN OFFICE OF URBAN AFFAIRS,…

Ideas discussed at the 1980 National Conference on Rural/Regional Educational Programs held in Portland, Oregon are presented in this Conference Reporter. Following a summary of executive committee activities and speeches concerning the future of rural/regional education and stressing the need for educators to assume leadership in rural education,…

This yearbook continues a series that has given a concise reference and analysis of school law decisions to school administrators, school attorneys, school board members, and others who need to know the latest court decisions affecting school operations. Its seven chapters summarize and analyze all of the 1972 Federal and State Supreme Court…

This report presents a summary of opinions on compulsory education from a variety of sources, discusses literature on the subject, and provides conclusions and recommendations. Based on study findings, the task force members concluded that while compulsory education is currently not a subject for discussion, compulsory attendance is. In addition,…

This book which has been appended as part of the Equal Educational Opportunity hearings of the Senate Select Committee primarily focuses on the thesis that schooling provided to an individual and his subsequent educational achievement and post-school performance are determined to a substantial degree by his social and economic circumstances. The…

A qualitative study examined a rural Alaskan school district's standards-based reform in the sociohistorical context of Alaska Native education. Observations and interviews with 32 district staff members indicate that the district had recast the historical "civilization-savagism" paradigm as an "unhealthy Native" construct to…

Examines the state of multicultural education in the nation's largest public school systems, focusing on components of existing multicultural programs. Representatives of 28 of the country's largest 30 school systems responded to the telephone survey. Multicultural curricula exist in 20 of these school districts. (SLD)

Focuses on a low-performing school district to review the problems of school reform and accountability, and to reveal the set of prevailing conditions and themes that make change more complicated. It is argued that the politics of race, poverty, the vacuums in communication and leadership, and the uncritical mass of human resources dramatically…

In response to ongoing court battles regarding the adequacy and equity of Arkansas' education system, the state's lawmakers have effected school reforms in many areas over the past few years, including nearly a 30 percent increase in educational expenditures from 2003-04 to 2004-05. The authors distributed a confidential survey to all 254 school…

While transformational leadership has received much attention in recent years, the purpose of this article is to explicate the concept of transition leadership and its centrality to understanding policy implementation and school change through a case study of one district and its school principals, transitioning from court-ordered desegregation to…

In a letter dated June 1, 2006, Utah informed the U.S. Department of Education (ED) of its intention to carefully and thoughtfully revise its Highly Qualified Teacher (HQT) plan with the aim of achieving the goal set in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of having all teachers meet highly qualified (HQ) requirements by the end of the 2006-2007…

The Education Mobility Assistance Program (EMAP) was created in Ohio in 1979 to provide funds to school districts that volunteered to racially desegregate their schools by transferring students. This report evaluates the impact of EMAP funds in reducing the number of racially isolated schools and in providing equal educational opportunities for…