In this report, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) provides a summary of its Fiscal Year 2005 accomplishments. Also, in recognition of its 25th anniversary, this report highlights some of the significant cases that OCR has resolved over the years. This report also includes a few quotations and case resolution stories from previous years to provide…

This report reveals the problems with claims made by Arizona state public education officials that English Language Learners (ELLs) are thriving under English-only instruction. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and the state's accountability system, Arizona LEARNS, require all students, including ELLs, to participate in statewide…

"Alabama Education News" is published monthly except for June, July, and December by the Alabama Department of Education. This publication, authorized by Section 16-2-4 of the "Code of Alabama," as recompiled in 1975, is a public service of the Alabama Department of Education designed to inform citizens and educators about…

The purpose of this report is to provide the Center for Excellence (CfE) in Early Childhood Development with a set of recommendations regarding how to measure school readiness in Ventura County. This report defines school readiness according to the National Education Goals Panel (NEGP) which identified the following three important components of…

This volume presents a selection of the 200 papers given at the 1999 biennial conference of the International Study Association on Teachers and Teaching. The theme of the conference was "Teachers and Teaching: Revisioning Policy and Practice for the Twenty-First Century." The 15 papers are: (1) "Teaching in a Box: Emotional…

As public schools collaborate with the Head Start and child care communities to improve the quality of early childhood education and care, practitioners working with young children need guidance and support in implementing best practices in early learning. This manual provides guidance to teachers engaged in improving their programs in concert…

This paper reviews significant events and resources that have emerged since the 1992 publication of "Adult Literacy Education: Current and Future Directions. An Update" by Hanna Fingeret. It analyzes major milestones in research and practice in literacy education that have occurred in the last decade. The paper begins by looking at the…

These case studies and analytic essays are intended to give the reader a richer understanding of when and how top managers succeed or fail in their efforts to use performance management (PM) systems to improve the functioning of federal, state, and local government in the United States (U.S.). The question mark in the title is intended to remind…

Enhanced autonomy of sub-national governments has spurred innovative management. Spending assignments across levels of government, however, often overlap and/or are not yet fully understood by most citizens. Sub-national governments' accountability is further reduced by the heavy reliance on federal transfers, as opposed to own-revenues (taxes and…

This document, prepared by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, presents six policy recommendations and implementation strategies to state and higher education leaders. This agenda for the 21st century is suggested to help higher education serve the needs of a multicultural society in a global and technologically oriented…

This paper summarizes the specialized requirements for management information of boards of trustees of theological seminaries. The well-designed information system is seen to take advantage of member skills, board structure, agenda setting, and both formal and informal information flows. Inadequacies of poorly-designed systems include: (1)…

This annual report for the New Hampshire Technical Colleges and Institute System (NHTC&IS) includes information on enrollment, graduates, job placement, salaries, transfer institutions, workforce training, the Police Academy, finances, and governance. The following accomplishments are highlighted for NHTC&IS in 1996: (1) it graduated 1,533…

This report describes the findings of 10 focus group meetings that discussed issues related to the performance of students with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) on Minnesota's Basic Standards Exams. Ten groups were formed, with one group of parents and one of students representing each of the following language communities: Cambodian, Hmong, Lao,…

This brief paper suggests that state leaders create charter districts in which all or most schools are charter or contract schools. Such districts, according to the paper, would help policymakers create school systems that focus on student achievement and provide high-quality choices to students and parents. The paper examines why charter…

This document presents the complete findings, full wordings, complete responses, and sample sizes from a series of surveys conduced from 1998 through 2002. The surveys covered a variety of topics about public education, including student achievement, academic standards, standardized testing, accountability, curriculum, safety and discipline,…