This study examines longitudinal student progress and achievement on the elementary, middle, and high school levels in relation to accountability policy incentives in a large urban district in Texas. Using quantitative analyses supplemented by qualitative interviews, the authors found that high-stakes testing policies that rewarded and punished…

Most schools and teachers cannot provide the kind of teaching the new standards demand because they lack know-how and organizational support. The policy challenge ahead is to develop schools' capacity to teach challenging content to diverse learners by ensuring teachers' access to knowledge they need to be effective and by developing new…

Examines the use of educational indicators to serve educational policy ends, the potential benefits and dangers of various uses, and how to forge guidelines for appropriate relationships between indicators and policy. Indicators should not be used as administrative controls or policy levers, but to illuminate educational activities and processes…

Critiques the methodology of a study that found that teacher certification had little effect on the achievement of students and presents additional data on the characteristics of the small sample of teachers in the original analysis. Results suggest that most of those teachers had qualifications equivalent to certification. (SLD)

Describes five case studies of high-performing public schools that have organized professional resources in innovative ways. Outlines principles of successful resource allocation. Presents a framework and methodology for examining a school's current use of resources. (MAK)

An introduction to five case studies of mathematics teachers and ancillary essays on implementation of instructional policy change at the classroom level is provided. The case studies and associated discussions focus on California's new Mathematics Framework, which features changes in textbooks, tests, and commonly held conceptions of subject…