This overview of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests is designed to help schools implement the Massachusetts"Curriculum Frameworks." For this fourth administration of the MCAS tests in 2001, the design of the tests remains essentially the same, but there are some changes highlighted in this overview. The first…

Achieve was asked by the Washington State Academic Achievement and Accountability Commission, Office of the Superintendent for Public Instruction, and the Partnership for Learning to conduct a study of the 10th grade Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). The intent of the study was to compare the content, rigor and passing scores on…

This legislative report presents the findings of a 1986 telephone survey of states that have enacted state-funded pre-kindergarten early childhood education programs. The survey was designed to collect data related to the legislative authority, intent, and oversight of the early childhood education programs and to gain information on the…

State policy for higher education in Massachusetts as elsewhere renders certain courses of action attractive while placing obstacles to other courses of action by the legislature, government officials, coordinating and governing boards, and other agencies and persons engaged in or planning for higher education. Policy may take the form of…

With the establishment of the Bureau of Institutional Schools (BIS) within the Division of Special Education, educational specialists have been appointed to represent the bureau in each of the division's six regional offices. The primary role of the BIS representative is one of assistance in the development of educational programs for children…

The author of this article describes why, while as a student in the Northeastern University teacher preparation program, she chose not to become a teacher in the public schools. She felt that her philosophy of education, stemming from the concept of the person-centered classroom as espoused by Carl Rogers and Jerome Freiberg in "Freedom to…

Relying on standardized tests to measure performance and determine accountability obscures the fact that only reciprocal rights and responsibilities can create authentic accountability. A student has the right to expect a teacher will begin on time with a well-prepared lesson, the necessary materials, and the skill to conduct a class. A teacher,…

In the long march from manual training, the subject which today is called technology education has always had to contend with the question of its legitimacy as valid school knowledge. In this regard, it shares a similar history of struggle with other subjects whose initial entry into the curriculum was based on a utilitarian rather than an…

This review of eligibility criteria for students with special needs was the result of a 2-month analysis of the Massachusetts special education law and the current state of education within Massachusetts. The review was intended to examine the original intent of the special education statute, possible reasons for the high number of special…

Activity from July 1 through September 30, 1965 was concentrated on developing objectives for the instructional and guidance programs. The instructional objectives sought were statements of successful student performance which include the criteria of success and the conditions under which the performance is to take place. Criteria specified that…

The publication describes the process by which a portion of the Management Information System for Occupational Education (MISOE) Census Data System (CDS) was field-tested in a sample of six Massachusetts schools. It is intended to provide guidelines for those who will be responsible for the planning of statewide implementation of the fully…

This report draws on the findings of nearly four dozen others: national and international studies that speak with a strong, collective voice about what it takes to improve math and science education. But the authors' intent with "World Class" is not simply to synthesize those reports. It is to establish a statewide, working agenda for…

Massachusetts is a newcomer to teacher testing, and prospective teachers in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts were not tested until April 1998. The unintended consequences of the state's teacher testing policy are examined through a qualitative case study and a document review of media reports, higher education institution reports, in-house…

Several years ago the author began visiting a number of families and children in the poor black section of Boston called Roxbury. But unlike many social scientists studying poverty in recent years, he listened--in particular to the thoughts, hopes, fears, and dreams of two fifth graders--William D. Williams and Adrien Keller. Here these two black…

This paper describes a unit of instruction about media images--how they work, ways they affect people, and means to use them--in which young adolescents learn the consequences of becoming a media-literate consumer. The paper explains that in the unit, divided into 2 "clusters," 110 Boston-area eighth graders share 5 core academic…