This volume features the reform journeys of six American high schools. The six high schools portrayed here include four large comprehensive high schools (Oakland Technical High in Oakland, California, and Brighton High in Boston, Massachusetts, are urban; Sir Francis Drake in Marin County, California, and Rex Putnam in North Clackamas, Oregon, are…

State leaders are using complex accountability systems, composed of standards, assessments, public reporting, rewards, and sanctions, to raise student, school, and district achievement. The public strongly supports making academic standards more challenging, despite a lack of consensus on content and outcomes. Some states may revise standards…

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 requires that workforce investment areas establish individual training accounts (ITAs) that provide vouchers customers can use to pay for training. The United States Department of Labor is supporting the ITA experiment, during which new customers determined to be eligible for training will be randomly…

Formatted in a question-and-answer style, this book is intended to provide a survey and overview of the federal law governing the placement of students with disabilities. It explores the procedural and substantive requirements of the placement process and addresses the most common concerns that arise in this area of special education law. The…

This book presents a collection of essays by researchers and educators that examine the largest school system in the U.S.--the New York City school system. There are 5 parts with 15 chapters. Part 1, "Education in the City," includes: (1) "Schooling in New York City: The Socioeconomic Context" (Emanuel Tobier) and (2)…

This critique of the "America 2000" educational reform initiative claims that its fundamental proposals highlight "old" ideas based on a "puritanic" perfect society with little attention to equity and the multidimensional needs of such groups as African-American at-risk students. The paper discusses the impact of the…

This newsletter includes six articles that examine key issues facing public schools and communities related to accountability, bilingual education, immigrant education, school finance, and school choice. In addressing these issues, articles focus on the importance of community involvement and input in local school reform efforts aimed at achieving…

State policymakers will want to make clear the intent of a policy on choice when they write their legislative bills. The purpose for the policy will help parents, students, educators, and the general public understand their action and the reasons for the action. This study discusses 11 issues included in legislative bills and gives a brief summary…

This study examined the extent to which students with disabilities or special needs participate in Postsecondary Enrollment Options (PSEO), a Minnesota program which allows 11th and 12th grade students to complete high school credits at a 4-year or 2-year college or a postsecondary vocational training institution. Directors of the PSEO programs at…

The second of four final reports from the Department of Education's School Finance Project presents information relevant to the subject of federal financial support to private school students and parents. An executive summary is followed by the introduction and the organizational outline of the report. Chapter 2 draws on information from existing…

This report presents the results of one of the first empirical investigations of how a tax subsidy for tuition costs actually influences parents' school choices. It provides data about subsidy costs, utilization, and effects in Minnesota, the first state to have a tuition subsidy pass judicial review at all levels of the court system. The study…

This report is a reference tool devoted to minority student education for planners, researchers, policymakers, and reporters covering all levels of education. The following broad minority issues are defined and related in a matrix to all National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) surveys containing racial/ethnic data collected from 1969: (1)…

This collection of short articles--summaries of materials presented at an October 1981 seminar--focuses on the probable impact of tuition tax credits. An introductory article summarizes arguments for and against. The second pair of articles present highlights of a debate between Chester Finn and Albert Shanker. In addition, 15 brief articles look…

This essay reviews research pertaining to the relative merits and drawbacks of expanding family choice in public education. A primary objective is to identify and explore tensions among competing objectives in the design of expanded choice systems. After an introductory section on goals and definitions, the second section explores how more family…

On January 23, 2004, President Bush signed the DC School Choice Incentive Act into law. This landmark piece of legislation included $14 million in funding for what would come to be called the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). The OSP is the first federally funded K-12 scholarship program in the country and is designed to provide…