The identification of students with specific learning disabilities has evolved since the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) in 2004. This reauthorization gave state agencies parameters that disallowed using the severe discrepancy model for identification as a stand-alone method. In response to…

This publication highlights how state leaders tackle data interoperability with the emergence of data standards for student information, assessment, digital content, and other educational applications. While states are at various maturity levels for interoperability, each state shares goals for interoperability, the drivers for those goals,…

A response to criticism by researchers House, Rivers, and Stufflebeam published in the June Kappan. (Editors)

The major purpose of this descriptive report is to provide an overview of the structure, capacity, and roles of educational service agencies (ESAs) across five states--Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin--in the Great Lakes region, within the context of the broader statewide systems of support for educational improvement and progress.…

The goal of the Michigan plan for school staff development is to clearly describe a comprehensive approach to staff development. The plan relies on two basic assumptions. The first is that local school staff should be involved in the planning process. The second is that the state has a unique and specific role to play in facilitating quality…

Accountability currently is an important concept throughout education. Michigan has assumed leadership among the States in exploring and applying accountability procedures. The purpose of this report is to examine the quality and implications of that leadership. Specifically, the authors' purpose is to assess the Michigan Accountability System…

Discusses Michigan's state-supported programs for the gifted. (IRT)

While most information dissemination activity in education is taking place at the national level within systems that emphasize documents, such as ERIC, the most important developments for individual teachers should take place at the state and local levels. SEEKER III, a local automated system in Michigan, is tied in with the Michigan Department of…

A research project investigated the dissemination practices of nine State education agencies (SEA) in order to identify useful techniques which could be adopted by other groups seeking to implement change. Interviewers conducted site visits in Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Montana, New York, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania; local…

Computer use in Michigan schools has evolved in three stages over the past decade. In the first, computers were new and few, and professional development was typically self-initiated. The Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) was formed at this time to provide resources to local districts which they were unable to provide…

Examines current thinking on the nature of intergovernmental relations, examines the data on the development of the Michigan compensatory education program and the issues that have characterized its administration, and draws some conclusions about the state-local interaction in education and about the leadership capacities of state education…

Describes strategic planning efforts in eight states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin) to implement guidelines in "Information Power" (1998, American Library Association) relating good school library media programs to student achievement success. Discusses Web pages; state conferences;…

The Michigan Department of Education defines professional development as a planned and organized effort to provide teachers and other educational workers with the knowledge and skills necessary to facilitate improved student learning and performance. The purpose of this paper is to provide a rationale and plan for professional development programs…

Materials collected in this book and in Volume I (SP 003 238) are related to the Multi-State Teacher Education Project (M-STEP). They deal with program experiments and resulting directions, including guide-line type materials resulting from the project effort and items prepared by other sources as project-centered aids. Part I, "A Forward…

Online learning holds promise for providing new educational opportunities to a wide range of students across the country. The rapid expansion of K-12 online learning, however, threatens to outpace the development of appropriate state-level policies that serve to fulfill the promise. As the National Association of State Boards of Education warned…