Sample records for school district based

  1. From Districts to Schools: The Distribution of Resources across Schools in Big City School Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rubenstein, Ross; Schwartz, Amy Ellen; Stiefel, Leanna; Amor, Hella Bel Hadj

    2007-01-01

    While the distribution of resources across school districts is well studied, relatively little attention has been paid to how resources are allocated to individual schools inside those districts. This paper explores the determinants of resource allocation across schools in large districts based on factors that reflect differential school costs or…

  2. A Strategy for Chapter I Planning and Evaluation in School-Based vs. District-Based Projects: Spinoffs from the School Effectiveness Research.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Slaughter, Helen B.; And Others

    Although many large districts have centrally organized their Chapter 1 (Education Consolidation and Improvement Act) compensatory programs at the district and project levels, elementary school improvement efforts are strongly tied to local school autonomy and principal leadership. This paper analyzes the Tucson (Arizona) Unified School District's…

  3. An Analysis of a High Performing School District's Culture

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Corum, Kenneth D.; Schuetz, Todd B.

    2012-01-01

    This report describes a problem based learning project focusing on the cultural elements of a high performing school district. Current literature on school district culture provides numerous cultural elements that are present in high performing school districts. With the current climate in education placing pressure on school districts to perform…

  4. Philadelphia's Renaissance Schools Initiative after Four Years

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stratos, Kati; Wolford, Tonya; Reitano, Adrienne

    2015-01-01

    In 2010-2011, the School District of Philadelphia (the District) launched its Renaissance Schools Initiative, a program designed to dramatically improve student achievement in the District's lowest performing schools. Some schools became Promise Academies, based on the federal turnaround model, and remained District-operated neighborhood schools.…

  5. The Politics of School-Based Management: Understanding the Process of Devolving Authority in Urban School Districts.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Walker, Elaine M.

    2002-01-01

    Studied the implementation of school-based management in 30 of the poorest school districts in New Jersey (the Abbott districts). Findings show that genuine autonomy has been usurped by increased state power and authority, and that state elites allow little opportunity for capacity building at the district level. The level of democratization has…

  6. Standards-Based Assessment, Grading, and Reporting in Classrooms: Can District Training and Support Change Teacher Practice?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McMunn, Nancy; Schenck, Patricia; McColskey, Wendy

    Whether school district support and training in standards-based assessment, grading, and reporting in classrooms can change teacher practice in these areas was studied in a Florida school district. This district, Bay District Schools of Panama City, has been working with the SERVE Regional Educational Laboratory on a project that involves teachers…

  7. Using School Performance Data to Drive School and Education District Office Accountability and Improvement: The Case of Ghana

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Prew, Martin; Quaigrain, Kenneth

    2010-01-01

    This article looks at a school management tool that allows school managers and education district offices to review the performance of their schools and use the broad-based data to undertake orchestrated planning with districts planning delivery based on the needs of schools and in support of school improvement plans. The review process also…

  8. Implementing a Student-Based Funding Policy: Considerations for School Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shambaugh, Larisa S.; Chambers, Jay G.

    2009-01-01

    As education budgets continue to tighten, increased attention is focused on how school districts can best distribute existing funds to schools and how schools can best use these funds. Student-based funding (SBF)--sometimes referred to as a weighted student formula--is one approach that school districts have taken during the past decade. SBF…

  9. Examining the relationship between school district size and science achievement in Texas including rural school administrator perceptions of challenges and solutions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mann, Matthew James

    Rural and small schools have almost one-third of all public school enrollment in America, yet typically have the fewest financial and research based resources. Educational models have been developed with either the urban or suburban school in mind, and the rural school is often left with no other alternative except this paradigm. Rural based educational resources are rare and the ability to access these resources for rural school districts almost non-existent. Federal and state based education agencies provide some rural educational based programs, but have had virtually no success in answering rural school issues. With federal and state interest in science initiatives, the challenge that rural schools face weigh in. To align with that focus, this study examined Texas middle school student achievement in science and its relationship with school district enrollment size. This study involved a sequential transformative mixed methodology with the quantitative phase driving the second qualitative portion. The quantitative research was a non-experimental causal-comparative study conducted to determine whether there is a significant difference between student achievement on the 2010 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills 8 th grade science results and school district enrollment size. The school districts were distributed into four categories by size including: a) small districts (32-550); b) medium districts (551-1500); c) large districts (1501-6000); and d) mega-sized districts (6001-202,773). A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to compare the district averages from the 2010 TAKS 8th grade science assessment results and the four district enrollment groups. The second phase of the study was qualitative utilizing constructivism and critical theory to identify the issues facing rural and small school administrators concerning science based curriculum and development. These themes and issues were sought through a case study method and through use of semi-structured interviews with successful rural school administrators who serve campuses currently rated recognized or higher on the Texas Education Agency accountability system. The qualitative data analysis employed the coding of interviews and observations that allowed for and sought emergent themes and alternative rural perspectives.

  10. The Professional Development Needs of School-Based Leadership in Preparation for a District-Wide One-to-One Initiative in a Large Urban School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Simmons, Brandon Dean

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the professional development needs of school-based leadership in preparation for a district-wide one-to-one initiative in a large urban school district. This study used an explanatory sequential mixed methods design to answer the three research questions that drove the study. Research for this study was…

  11. Collaborative School Improvement: Eight Practices for District-School Partnerships to Transform Teaching and Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kaufman, Trent E.; Grimm, Emily Dolci; Miller, Allison E.

    2012-01-01

    How can districts bring instructional improvement to scale within and across schools? The authors of "Collaborative School Improvement" argue that districts can play a powerful part in helping schools build the capacity to engage in inquiry-based reform--but that this effort requires a shift in districts' traditional role as a professional…

  12. School District Crisis Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Plans - United States, 2012.

    PubMed

    Silverman, Brenda; Chen, Brenda; Brener, Nancy; Kruger, Judy; Krishna, Nevin; Renard, Paul; Romero-Steiner, Sandra; Avchen, Rachel Nonkin

    2016-09-16

    The unique characteristics of children dictate the need for school-based all-hazards response plans during natural disasters, emerging infectious diseases, and terrorism (1-3). Schools are a critical community institution serving a vulnerable population that must be accounted for in public health preparedness plans; prepared schools are adopting policies and plans for crisis preparedness, response, and recovery (2-4). The importance of having such plans in place is underscored by the development of a new Healthy People 2020 objective (PREP-5) to "increase the percentage of school districts that require schools to include specific topics in their crisis preparedness, response, and recovery plans" (5). Because decisions about such plans are usually made at the school district level, it is important to examine district-level policies and practices. Although previous reports have provided national estimates of the percentage of districts with policies and practices in place (6), these estimates have not been analyzed by U.S. Census region* and urbanicity.(†) Using data from the 2012 School Health Policies and Practices Study (SHPPS), this report examines policies and practices related to school district preparedness, response, and recovery. In general, districts in the Midwest were less likely to require schools to include specific topics in their crisis preparedness plans than districts in the Northeast and South. Urban districts tended to be more likely than nonurban districts to require specific topics in school preparedness plans. Southern districts tended to be more likely than districts in other regions to engage with partners when developing plans. No differences in district collaboration (with the exception of local fire department engagement) were observed by level of urbanicity. School-based preparedness planning needs to be coordinated with interdisciplinary community partners to achieve Healthy People 2020 PREP-5 objectives for this vulnerable population.

  13. Human Resource Support for School Principals in Two, Urban School Districts: An Exploratory Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lochmiller, Chad R.

    2010-01-01

    School districts are increasingly focused on instructional practice in classrooms. Many urban school districts have shifted decision-making responsibility to school principals in order to improve instruction. This reform strategy has been referred to as decentralization or school-based management. Decentralization has a significant influence on…

  14. Private Sector Adds to the Menu.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Donovan, Sharon

    1997-01-01

    Two school districts, Kennewick School District WA and Salem-Keizer School District OR, are leveraging their food service contractor's resources to establish work-based courses stressing sophisticated management, culinary, and life skills. Under these instructional partnerships, the contractor, cooperating with school officials, develops the…

  15. Site-Based Management in Education: Rochester City School District Case Study.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gross, Alan

    This paper describes outcomes of a partnership between the Rochester City School District (New York) and the Kodak 21st Century Learning Challenge consulting program for improving school-based planning team (S-BPT) operations. The purpose of the school-based planning team is to involve the entire school community in improving school effectiveness.…

  16. The Case for District-Based Reform: Leading, Building, and Sustaining School Improvement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Supovitz, Jonathan A.

    2006-01-01

    In 1999, the Duval County (Fla.) school system set out to improve every school in the district. Over the next five years, the district achieved stunning results that have drawn nationwide attention. Jonathan A. Supovitz uses the unfolding story of Duval County to develop a sophisticated and thoughtful analysis of the role of the school district in…

  17. The Impact of Computer-Based Information Systems Upon School and School District Administration.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hansen, Thomas; And Others

    1978-01-01

    This study investigates the ways in which computer-based information systems interact with the strategic planning, management control, and operational control in 11 Minnesota school districts. (Author/IRT)

  18. De-adoption of an evidence-based trauma intervention in schools: A retrospective report from an urban school district

    PubMed Central

    Nadeem, Erum; Ringle, Vanesa

    2017-01-01

    The de-adoption of evidence-based practices (EBPs) is a largely understudied topic. The present study examined factors related to the de-adoption of an EBP for students exposed to traumatic events in a large urban school district. Qualitative interviews conducted with school clinicians and district administrators two years after the district embarked on a large-scale roll-out of the EBP distinguished between factors that impacted partial de-adoption after one year (phase 1) and complete de-adoption by the district after two years (phase 2). Phase 1 factors included organizational consistency, workforce stability, prior success, positive student outcomes, school- and district- level supports, innovation-setting fit, and innovation-related issues. Phase 2 factors included district-level leadership changes, financial and workforce instability, and shifting priorities. Study results suggest that sustainment-enhancing strategies should be included in the early stages of program implementation to most effectively adapt to school- and system- level changes. PMID:28775793

  19. Chugach School District: A Personalized, Performance-Based System. Insights from the Field. CompetencyWorks Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sturgis, Chris

    2016-01-01

    This paper explores how an Alaskan school district shifted from a traditional K-12 education system to a personalized, performance-based system, embedded in the culture of the community, which led to increased student achievement. Chugach School District (CSD) first implemented competency education over twenty years ago, paving the way in…

  20. Effects of a Theoretically Based Large-Scale Reading Intervention in a Multicultural Urban School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sadoski, Mark; Willson, Victor L.

    2006-01-01

    In 1997, Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes partnered with Pueblo School District 60 (PSD60), a heavily minority urban district with many Title I schools, to implement a theoretically based initiative designed to improve Colorado Student Assessment Program reading scores. In this study, the authors examined achievement in Grades 3-5 during the…

  1. A Case Study of District Decentralization and Site-Based Budgeting: Cordell Place School District.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fermanich, Mark; Odden, Allan; Archibald, Sarah

    A previously high-ranking suburban school district with declining student achievement changed to site-based budgeting. The account of the change may also be a cautionary tale about change taken too rapidly. Although a poor economy, the annexation of two Department of Defense schools, and organizational stagnation helped to create lower student…

  2. Connections and Tensions between University and School Districts: Research Review Boards and School-Based Research

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tilley, Susan A.; Killins, Janet; Van Oosten, Deborah

    2005-01-01

    Currently researchers connected to university contexts who conduct research involving human participants must receive approval from a research ethics board, and in the case of school-based research, from school district authorities. This article focuses on the ethics review of school-based research. Applications submitted to a research ethics…

  3. Dropout Rates in Texas School Districts: Influences of School Size and Ethnic Group.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Toenjes, Laurence A.

    Longitudinal dropout rates (LDR's) for public school students and LDR's of pupil membership by ethnic group based on two Texas Education Agency reports are estimated. LDR's are calculated for the state, by school district size, for the 21 largest districts, and by average high school size. Findings dispel the prevalent perception of the dropout…

  4. Economic Costs of Bias-Based Bullying

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baams, Laura; Talmage, Craig A.; Russell, Stephen T.

    2017-01-01

    Because many school districts receive funding based on student attendance, absenteeism results in a high cost for the public education system. This study shows the direct links between bias-based bullying, school absenteeism because of feeling unsafe at school, and loss of funds for school districts in California. Data from the 2011-2013…

  5. Site-Based Budgeting: A New Age of District Finance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Perry, Mary

    2013-01-01

    The effects of linking school districts' funding directly to the students they serve and providing local school districts and communities with more control over how that money is spent could ripple through the entire K-12 system, from the state Capitol to the classroom. For district leaders anxious to improve their schools and better support…

  6. Cloud-Based Data Storage

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Waters, John K.

    2011-01-01

    The vulnerability and inefficiency of backing up data on-site is prompting school districts to switch to more secure, less troublesome cloud-based options. District auditors are pushing for a better way to back up their data than the on-site, tape-based system that had been used for years. About three years ago, Hendrick School District in…

  7. Taking a Strengths-Based Focus Improves School Climate

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tschannen-Moran, Megan; Tschannen-Moran, Bob

    2011-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to learn whether focusing on strengths through appreciative inquiry would be related to measurable changes in school climate and trust within a small urban school district. The district studied was a beleaguered, underperforming school district in the Midwest Rust Belt. Through an appreciative inquiry initiative, the…

  8. The Best of Both Worlds: Can District-Charter Co-Location Be a Win-Win?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    DeArmond, Michael; Nelson, Elizabeth Cooley; Bruns, Angela

    2015-01-01

    District schools and charter schools are often at odds. When the two school types share a school building--arrangements known as "co-locations"--the tensions can boil over. But what happens when district and charter leaders approach co-location as a tool to promote school improvement, rather than simply a real estate deal? Based on…

  9. Building Research-Practice Partnerships as a District-Led Initiative: A High-Leverage Strategy for System Improvement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Muñoz, Marco A.

    2016-01-01

    Research-Practice Partnerships (RPP) can enable and support an evidence-based school culture for decision-making in districts across the nation. Based on our experiences in a large urban district, a key element for a successful RPP is to understand that school districts have their own research needs/agenda typically articulated in strategic plans.…

  10. Increasing Reservation Attendance: Ganado's Approach.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Foster, Carl; And Others

    Based on recommendations of a District Attendance Task Force, in 1980 the Ganado School District (a Navajo Reservation District) formulated an Attendance Improvement Plan which decreased the primary school's absentee rate 37% over previous years and which dramatically increased Friday attendance. The primary school targeted "high risk"…

  11. Home-Town Values and High Accountability: A Texas Recipe for Districtwide Success in an Urban School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Skrla, Linda; McKenzie, Kathryn Bell; Scheurich, James Joseph; Dickerson, Kimberly L.

    2011-01-01

    This article reports the findings from a case study of urban school district effectiveness taken from a larger, multistate study. The case study district, Galena Park Independent School District in Galena Park, Texas, was chosen for inclusion in the study based on quantitative analysis of student achievement data in Texas. An education production…

  12. Goals: Coherence and Relevance: 3 Districts Focus on Quality of Professional Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jacobson, Linda

    2016-01-01

    For more than a century, teachers in Tennessee's Loudon County School District have come together before the start of the school year for a professional development day. For the first time this year, professional learning in the district will be based at each individual school -- a result of the district's use of a new rubric, which states that…

  13. School Districts Try a New Tack.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Spitz, James A., Jr., Battaglia, Michael

    1997-01-01

    Politicians are increasingly pressuring school districts to improve instruction while holding down costs. To achieve this aim, western New York school districts are experimenting with mutual gains bargaining, an alternative negotiation process based on Roger Fisher and William Ury's 1991 book "Getting to Yes." Instead of bargaining from…

  14. Strategic Planning: A (Site) Sight-Based Approach to Curriculum and Staff Development.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Daniel P.

    The purpose of (Colorado's) Clear Creek School District's strategic planning process has been to develop basic district-wide parameters to promote instructional improvement through a process of shared leadership. The approach is termed "sight-based" to indicate the school district's commitment to connecting curriculum and…

  15. Re-Imagining School Leadership Preparation to Restore a Failing School District: A Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lightfoot, Jonathan; Thompson, Eustace

    2014-01-01

    This case study report will identify modifications made to a traditional leadership program's structures and the effects of the work on faculty perceptions of non-traditional doctoral programs. Union Free School District is the only school district to ever be taken over by the state. A nearby university's research-based educational leadership…

  16. Factors Influencing the Demand and Supply of Public School Teachers in Indiana: An Exploratory Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Debertin, David L.; Huie, John M.

    1975-01-01

    Describes a conceptual model representing the demand and supply of public school teachers and the relationship between the assessed valuation of property within a school district and the training, experience, and salary levels of teachers in the district, based on an analysis of data from 269 Indiana school districts. (Author/JG)

  17. Improving Community Health While Satisfying a Critical Community Need: A Case Study for Nonprofit Hospitals

    PubMed Central

    Kephart, Donna K.; Dillon, Judith F.; McCullough, Jody R.; Blatt, Barbara J.; Kraschnewski, Jennifer L.

    2015-01-01

    Background School-based student health screenings identify issues that may affect physical and intellectual development and are an important way to maintain student health. Nonprofit hospitals can provide a unique resource to school districts by assisting in the timely completion of school-based screenings and meet requirements of the Affordable Care Act. This case study describes the collaboration between an academic medical center and a local school district to conduct school-based health screenings. Community Context Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Penn State Hershey PRO Wellness Center collaborated with Lebanon School District to facilitate student health screenings, a need identified in part by a community health needs assessment. Methods From June 2012 through February 2013, district-wide student health screenings were planned and implemented by teams of hospital nursing leadership, school district leadership, and school nurses. In fall 2013, students were screened through standardized procedures for height, weight, scoliosis, vision, and hearing. Outcomes In 2 days, 3,105 students (67% of all students in the district) were screened. Letters explaining screening results were mailed to parents of all students screened. Debriefing meetings and follow-up surveys for the participating nurses provided feedback for future screenings. Interpretation The 2-day collaborative screening event decreased the amount of time spent by school nurses in screening students throughout the year and allowed them more time in their role as school wellness champion. Additionally, parents found out early in the school year whether their child needed physician follow-up. Partnerships between school districts and hospitals to conduct student health screenings are a practical option for increasing outreach while satisfying community needs. PMID:26513441

  18. Occupational and Physical Therapy Services, School Based Programs: An Organizational Manual, 1982-83.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McKee, Marlene, Comp.; And Others

    A 1982-83 manual on school-based occupational therapy and physical therapy (OT/PT) services in Texas is presented. Contents include: guidelines, evaluation forms, student and therapists' documentation forms, and policy/procedures manuals for a suburban independent school district and a rural independent school district. Part I provides the…

  19. The Role of the Superintendent in Closing the Achievement Gap in Diverse Small School Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wright, Howell, Jr.; Harris, Sandra

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this qualitative, narrative study was to investigate the role of the superintendent in leading the district to be more culturally proficient, resulting in the narrowing of the achievement gap in culturally diverse small districts. Eight superintendents of small school districts were purposefully selected based on their district size…

  20. Evaluation of Social and Academic Effects of School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support in a Canadian School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McIntosh, Kent; Bennett, Joanna L.; Price, Kathy

    2011-01-01

    This article discusses School-wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS), an evidence-based approach to teaching social competencies and enhancing the school social environment. The focus of this article is on the value of evaluation and evaluation plans at a district level for maintaining and increasing the effectiveness of SWPBS in a district. We…

  1. The Student Voice Collaborative: An Effort to Systematize Student Participation in School and District Improvement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sussman, Ari

    2015-01-01

    This chapter recounts the first 3 years of the Student Voice Collaborative (SVC) in New York City, a district supported student leadership initiative that engages high school aged youth in school reform work at school and district levels. Based on his experiences developing and running the SVC, the author identifies nine design and implementation…

  2. Moving to Standards-Based Grading: Lessons from Omaha

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Proulx, Chris; Spencer-May, Karen; Westerberg, Tim

    2012-01-01

    Getting a large, urban school district to use standards-based education and standards-based grading is challenging. Doing so in one year is monumental. During the 2009-10 school year, Omaha (NE) Public Schools began to study the feasibility of making changes to its traditional grading system. The more closely district personnel investigated the…

  3. Proceedings from State and District Support to Low-Performing Schools. Selected Presentations from a Working Conference of the High Poverty Schools Initiative (Baltimore, Maryland, May 20-23, 2001).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Council of Chief State School Officers, Washington, DC.

    This paper presents proceedings from a 2001 working conference of the State and District Support to Low-Performing Schools initiative, which presented research-based strategies and exemplary practice to improve low-performing schools. The presentations focused on state and district systems of support to low-performing schools; use of data to…

  4. Collaborating with the Community: Lessons from a Rural School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Walker, Anne

    2012-01-01

    This article, based on case study research, highlights how a rural school district in the midwestern United States collaborated with local community organizations to meet the needs of English language learners after the district and community experienced rapid ethnic diversification. In particular, the district EL coordinator spearheaded the…

  5. To Be Alone or in a Group: An Exploration into How the School-Based Experiences Differ for Black Male Teachers across One Urban School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bristol, Travis J.

    2018-01-01

    One urban district administered the Black Male Teacher Environment Survey (BMTES) to each of its Black male teachers to measure their school-based experiences. This article highlights descriptive statistics from the 86 Black male teacher respondents. Findings suggest that participants' background characteristics and school-based experiences varied…

  6. School-Based Health Care and the District of Columbia Safety Net. Medical Homes DC Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    21st Century School Fund, 2004

    2004-01-01

    This report provides the results of research into the variety of health care services currently offered in the public schools in the District of Columbia, with a particular focus on school-based health centers. Also provided are the results of research into the practice of utilizing school-based health centers nationally in the U.S. The report is…

  7. County Variation in Children's and Adolescent's Health Status and School District Performance in California

    PubMed Central

    Jung, Sunyoung

    2008-01-01

    Objectives. We examined the association between county-level estimates of children's health status and school district performance in California. Methods. We used 3 data sources: the California Health Interview Survey, district archives from the California Department of Education, and census-based estimates of county demographic characteristics. We used logistic regression to estimate whether a school district's failure to meet adequate yearly progress goals in 2004 to 2005 was a function of child and adolescent's health status. Models included district- and county-level fixed effects and were adjusted for the clustering of districts within counties. Results. County-level changes in children's and adolescent's health status decreased the likelihood that a school district would fail to meet adequate yearly progress goals during the investigation period. Health status did not moderate the relatively poor performance of predominantly minority districts. Conclusions. We found empirical support that area variation in children's and adolescent's health status exerts a contextual effect on school district performance. Future research should explore the specific mechanisms through which area-level child health influences school and district achievement. PMID:18309137

  8. Topics for Educational Policymakers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Texas Association of School Boards, Austin.

    The primary responsibility of school board members has always been the development of the policies that govern the school district. If these policies are to properly address the actual needs of the school district they must be based on an accurate and comprehensive knowledge of the issue confronting the district. This handbook is designed first to…

  9. Urban District Anchors Culture Shift in Standards-Based Leadership Strategy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anthony, Douglas W.; Shetley, Pamela R.

    2017-01-01

    With its 208 schools, 130,000 students, and 19,000 employees, Prince George's County Public Schools (PGCPS) in Maryland is one of the country's largest school districts. Serving a high-poverty student population from urban, suburban, and rural communities, the district requires leadership that can enable its learners to combat the conditions of…

  10. Who Gets Care? Mental Health Service Use Following a School-Based Suicide Prevention Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kataoka, Sheryl; Stein, Bradley D.; Nadeem, Erum; Wong, Marleen

    2007-01-01

    Objective: To examine symptomatology and mental health service use following students' contact with a large urban school district's suicide prevention program. Method: In 2001 school district staff conducted telephone interviews with 95 randomly selected parents approximately 5 months following their child's contact with the district's suicide…

  11. The Impact of Standards-Based Reform in Duval County, Florida: 1999-2002

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Supovitz, Jonathan A.; Taylor, Brooke Snyder

    2003-01-01

    The major challenge that school districts face is to improve the learning of all students, not just in individual schools, but across the entire system of schools. Duval County, Florida has embarked on a remarkable journey to implement standards-based reform in schools throughout the district with the intent to systematically improve teaching and…

  12. Four Years Later--How Greece, N.Y., Uses Site-Based Management.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bahrenfuss, Rene M.

    1992-01-01

    Four years of hard work and training have gone into creating site-based management structures and processes at Greece (New York) Central School District. Each school has management team. All schools are dedicated to meeting district's mission and vision, but how schools accomplish these goals is up to them. Except for overall payroll, all…

  13. Project Ideals: Special Services of the School District (Area I).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nunnery, Michael Y.

    This pamphlet surveys the research and literature concerned with such local school district services as school plant planning and services, school community communication, school food services, school transportation services, and research and evaluation services. A series of generalizations is listed for each topic based on information reported in…

  14. The Creative Cost Management Strategies of Two School Districts.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pheasant, Marilyn

    1984-01-01

    Two Oregon schools districts that have been effective in managing their resources are Reedsport, a smaller district and the subject of part 1 of this bulletin; and Beaverton, one of the largest districts in the state, the focus of part 2. The Reedsport district plans the use of its funds based on a goal-setting process in the areas of instruction,…

  15. What Do You See? The Supreme Court Decision in "PICS" and the Resegregation of Two Southern School Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anderson, Celia Rousseau

    2011-01-01

    Background/Context: In June 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to prohibit student assignment on the basis of race. In Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (hereafter referred to as PICS), the court deemed race-based strategies used to voluntarily desegregate school districts to be unconstitutional. Although the…

  16. ESTEEM - Encouraging School Transportation Effective Energy Management - Fuel Economy Management Handbook for Directors of Pupil Transportation, School District Administrators, Transportation Department Management.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    BRI Systems, Inc., Phoenix, AZ.

    This publication is a guide for school districts to reduce pupil transportation costs and save energy. The information presented is based upon: (1) energy saving programs implemented by school districts; (2) government and industry research efforts in fuel economy; (3) the successful experiences of commercial trucking fleets to save fuel; and (4)…

  17. M-X Environmental Technical Report. Alternative Potential Operating Base Locations.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1980-12-22

    baseball recreation area School District 10 acres field. 4 lighted tennis courts, gym Middle School Millard County 7 acres Play area; basketball...recreation area School District 7 standard gym Elementary School Millard County 5 acres Playground equipment, ball recreation area School District field 4097... ict res. The iperiods of growth and departure will cause great fluctuations in property v.-du.s. In addition, the character of the comnuni ties will

  18. School-Based Coaches Plant Seeds of Learning: A Districtwide Approach to Data Analysis Promotes Job-Embedded Learning and Improved Teacher Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hill, Rachelle; Rapp, Lori

    2012-01-01

    Schools and districts are inundated with data from a variety of sources. As a result, using data to guide instructional planning can be daunting for teachers and schools. While schools and districts are dealing with shrinking budgets and growing demands for high student achievement, an investment in school-based coaching can provide exponential…

  19. Group 11: School-Based Social Workers. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2012

    2012-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  20. Group 11a: School-Based Psychologists. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2012

    2012-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  1. Group 20: All Other School-Based Personnel. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2012

    2012-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  2. Charter School Funding: Inequity Expands

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Batdorff, Meagan; Maloney, Larry; May, Jay F.; Speakman, Sheree T.; Wolf, Patrick J.; Cheng, Albert

    2014-01-01

    This revenue study is based on Fiscal Year 2010-11 (FY11) data for each of 30 selected states plus the District of Columbia (D.C.). Traditional school districts and public charter schools were analyzed and aggregated "statewide." For each state, one to three "focus areas" were selected based on larger concentrations of charter…

  3. The Academic Preparation of Idaho Science Teachers Based on School District Size.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Heikkinen, Michael W.

    1987-01-01

    Certification records of 435 Idaho science teachers analyzed by school district size revealed significant differences: more physiology, earth science, and chemistry I teachers in largest districts had endorsements to teach assigned subjects; more earth science and chemistry I teachers in smallest districts had neither major nor minor in subjects…

  4. Responses to Positive Results from Suspicionless Random Drug Tests in US Public School Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ringwalt, Chris; Vincus, Amy A.; Ennett, Susan T.; Hanley, Sean; Bowling, J. Michael; Yacoubian, George S., Jr.; Rohrbach, Louise A.

    2009-01-01

    Background: Little is known about the context in which school-based suspicionless random drug testing (SRDT) occurs. The primary purpose of the current study was to describe school districts' responses to students' first positive result in districts with SRDT programs. Methods: Data were collected in spring 2005 from 1612 drug prevention…

  5. The Impact of Collective Bargaining and Urbanicity on the Late Hiring of Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Loubert, Linda; Nelson, F. Howard

    2010-01-01

    It is commonly assumed that urban school districts hire teachers late due to issues related to district size and/or restrictions in collectively bargained teacher contracts affecting teacher hiring and transfers between schools. Our investigation of late teacher hiring and collective bargaining is based on a survey of 40 school districts that…

  6. The Influence of "No Child Left Behind" Legislation on Drug Prevention in U.S. Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cho, Hyunsan; Hallfors, Denise Dion; Iritani, Bonita J.; Hartman, Shane

    2009-01-01

    This study examines prevention practices and perceptions in U.S. schools since passage of federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, using survey data from state education agencies (SEA) and a population-based sample of school districts. Only one third of U.S. public school districts rely on evidence-based prevention curriculum in middle…

  7. Strength and Comprehensiveness of School Wellness Policies in Southeastern US School Districts.

    PubMed

    Cox, Melissa J; Ennett, Susan T; Ringwalt, Christopher L; Hanley, Sean M; Bowling, James M

    2016-09-01

    In 2004, Congress passed legislation mandating that all public school districts participating in federal school meal programs develop a school wellness policy (SWP) to direct efforts related to nutrition and physical activity. We examined the extent to which SWPs varied in comprehensiveness and strength in a representative sample of school districts in the southeastern United States, the area of the country with the highest rates of childhood obesity. Policies were assessed using an established 96-item coding tool by 2 raters to ascertain the comprehensiveness and strength of the policies as a whole, and across distinct subsections specified by federal legislation. In addition, variability in SWP comprehensiveness and strength was assessed based on district sociodemographic characteristics. Overall, SWPs in the southeastern states are weakly written, fragmented, and lack requirements necessary for healthy school environments. District size, which was the only sociodemographic factor related to policy characteristics, yielded an inverse association. To encourage continued promotion of healthy school environments, school districts will require technical support to improve the quality of their school wellness policies. © 2016, American School Health Association.

  8. Fiscal Response of School Districts to District Fiscal Capacity and State Aid. Working Papers in Education Finance, Paper No. 15.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adams, E. Kathleen; Vincent, Phillip E.

    Data on 174 Colorado school districts were used to measure districts' responses (as indicated by per-pupil expenditures) to their own fiscal capacity and to state aid that changes over time. Colorado's modified guaranteed tax base (GTB) formula was analyzed and a model constructed that took into account the formula's limits on district spending…

  9. Strength and Comprehensiveness of District School Wellness Policies Predict Policy Implementation at the School Level

    PubMed Central

    Henderson, Kathryn E; Falbe, Jennifer; Novak, Sarah A.; Wharton, Christopher; Long, Michael; O'Connell, Meghan L.; Fiore, Susan S.

    2013-01-01

    Background In 2006, all local education agencies in the United States participating in federal school meal programs were required to establish school wellness policies. The aim of this study was to document the strength and comprehensiveness of one state's written district policies using a quantitative coding tool, and test whether the strength and comprehensiveness of the written policy predicted school level implementation and practices. Methods School wellness policies from 151 Connecticut districts were evaluated using a quantitative coding system. In each district, school principal surveys were collected before and after the writing and expected implementation of wellness policies. Socio-demographic variables were assessed for each district, including enrollment, population density, political climate, racial composition and socio-economic status. Changes in school-level policy implementation before and after the federal wellness policy requirement were compared across districts by wellness policy strength, and policies were compared based on district-level demographic factors. Results Statewide, fuller implementation of nutrition and physical activity policies at the school level was reported after adoption of written policies in 2006. Districts with stronger, more comprehensive policies were more successful in implementing those policies at the school level. Some socio-demographic characteristics predicted the strength of wellness policies; larger, urban districts and districts with a greater ratio of registered Democrats to Republicans wrote stronger policies. Conclusions Written school wellness policies have the potential to promote significant improvements in the school environment. Future regulation of school wellness policies should focus on the importance of writing strong and comprehensive policies. PMID:22568461

  10. Mandatory Community-Based Learning in U.S. Urban High Schools: Fair Equality of Opportunity?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bennett, Jeffrey V.; Alsbury, Thomas L.; Fan, Jingjing

    2016-01-01

    This study explores participant experiences at two contrasting high schools in a large, urban school district in crisis who implemented mandatory community-based learning (CBL) (e.g. community service, work-based internships) as a policy of reform. Rawls' theory of justice as fairness is used to examine capacity of the district formal policy to…

  11. A Multilevel, Statewide Investigation of School District Anti-Bullying Policy Quality and Student Bullying Involvement.

    PubMed

    Gower, Amy L; Cousin, Molly; Borowsky, Iris W

    2017-03-01

    Although nearly all states in the United States require school districts to adopt anti-bullying policies, little research examines the effect of these policies on student bullying and health. Using a statewide sample, we investigated associations between the quality of school district anti-bullying policies and student bullying involvement and adjustment. School district anti-bullying policies (N = 208) were coded for their quality based on established criteria. District-level data were combined with student reports of bullying involvement, emotional distress, and school connectedness from a state surveillance survey of 6th, 9th, and 12th grade students (N = 93,437). Results indicated that policy quality was positively related to bullying victimization. Furthermore, students reporting frequent perpetration/victimization who also attended districts with high-quality policies reported more emotional distress and less school connectedness compared with students attending districts with low quality policies. Although statistically significant, the magnitude of these associations was small. Having a high-quality school district anti-bullying policy is not sufficient to reduce bullying and protect bullying-involved young people. Future studies examining policy implementation will inform best practices in bullying prevention. © 2017, American School Health Association.

  12. Perceptions of Elementary Teachers from an Urban School District in Southern California Regarding Their Inquiry-Based Science Instructional Practices, Assessment Methods, and Professional Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ugwu, Romanus Iroabuchi

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to describe the perceptions of elementary teachers from an urban school district in Southern California regarding their inquiry-based science instructional practices, assessment methods and professional development. The district's inquiry professional development called the California Mathematics and…

  13. District Allocation of Human Resources Utilizing the Evidence Based Model: A Study of One High Achieving School District in Southern California

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lane, Amber Marie

    2013-01-01

    This study applies the Gap Analysis Framework to understand the gaps that exist in human resource allocation of one Southern California school district. Once identified, gaps are closed with the reallocation of human resources, according to the Evidenced Based Model, requiring the re-purposing of core classroom teachers, specialists, special…

  14. Superintendent Leadership: Focusing on District Culture

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Donnelly, Tanya A.; Adams, Jeffery S.; Smith, Dwayne E.

    2012-01-01

    This report describes a problem-based learning project focusing on superintendent leadership and stakeholder influence of school district culture. Current research findings suggest the importance of superintendent leadership in assessing, influencing, and enhancing school district culture. Multiple scholars wrote literature in the area of…

  15. The Relation among School District Health, Total Quality Principles for School Organization and Student Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Marshall, Jon; Pritchard, Ruie; Gunderson, Betsey

    2004-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the congruence among W. E. Deming's 14 points for Total Quality Management (TQM), the organizational health of school districts, and student achievement. Based on Kanter's (1983) concept of a Culture of Pride with a Climate of Success, healthy districts were defined as having an organizational culture…

  16. The use of biodiesel in a school transportation system: the case of Medford Township, New Jersey.

    PubMed

    Biluck, Joe

    2007-09-01

    A combination of high fuel prices, bus maintenance costs, and the health and safety of school children, along with a consideration of federal and state regulations, prompted Medford Township school district in southern New Jersey to explore the use of alternative fuels, specifically biodiesel. The school district owns and operates 62 school buses that transport 3500 children daily. The evolution of this switch from petroleum-based fuel to biodiesel is described. The district is the nation's longest continuous user of biodiesel in a school transportation system.

  17. Culturally Relevant Beliefs of Teachers and Their Affect on the School Experience of African American Male Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Davenport, Reginald O.

    2009-01-01

    The study was conducted in two suburban middle schools. These schools are located in a very diverse public school district in Middlesex County New Jersey. Like many school districts throughout this country, many African American male students are experiencing school and schooling differently based on the differences still seen in the number of…

  18. Decentralization and Participatory Decision-Making: Implementing School-Based Management in the Abbott Districts.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Walker, Elaine M.

    2000-01-01

    This study examined issues faced during implementation of school-based management (SBM) in New Jersey's special needs or Abbott districts, using a literature review, surveys of K-12 schools, and focus groups with central office administrators. The study examined forms of SBM, team operations, local autonomy versus state power, skills required to…

  19. CA District Uses RTI to Boost Achievement for All

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Samuels, Christina A.

    2011-01-01

    The 2004-05 school year didn't start off well for the Sanger Unified School District. The district, located east of Fresno, had entered its first year of "program improvement"--a gentler way of saying that Sanger was among the 98 lowest-performing districts in the state based on success criteria in the No Child Left Behind law. The…

  20. San Jose Unified School District, 2010-2013: Building a Culture of Evidence-Based Practice around College Readiness

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kless, Lambrina

    2013-01-01

    In 2012-2013, leaders and staff of the San Jose Unified School District (SJUSD) focused on accomplishing the district's new mission: to aggressively pursue solutions to close the opportunity gap and ensure that all students leave SJUSD with twenty-first-century skills, prepared to participate in a global society. The district's participation in…

  1. Charter Accountability for District-Run Schools: Using ESSA to Create Contract-Based Accountability for Urban Public Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smarick, Andy

    2016-01-01

    The new federal education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), gives states the opportunity to rethink their K-12 accountability systems. Gone are No Child Left Behind's (NCLB) tight rules for assessing and intervening in schools and districts. This could not come at a better time for urban schooling. Urban districts operate in a very…

  2. It's No Secret: Progress Prized in Brownsville

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zehr, Mary Ann

    2008-01-01

    This article features Brownsville Independent School District which was awarded the prestigious 2008 Broad Prize for Urban Education for being the nation's most improved urban school district. The Texas border district sees teacher training and data-based instruction as paths to learning gains--and the $1 million Broad award adds validation. In…

  3. Two Dimensions of Parent Participation in an Inner School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Flaugher, Paul

    2006-01-01

    An exploratory study finds that parents who meet frequently with teachers about their child's school are not also likely to report they attend evening school or parenting programs. The research is based upon a take-home survey administered to parents of elementary school children in an inner-city type school district that is close to a major…

  4. The Effect of Regular Participation in an After-School Program on Student Achievement, Attendance, and Behavior

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pastchal-Temple, Andrea Sheree

    2012-01-01

    Many school districts are using research-based strategies to increase student achievement. The "No Child Left Behind Act" of 2001 was created and implemented to assist all students becoming proficient in reading and mathematics by 2014. One strategy many school districts implemented includes an after-school program. One school district…

  5. Decision-Making, Information Communication Technology, and Data Analysis by School Leaders about Student Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Akoma, Ahunna Margaux

    2012-01-01

    This case study of one school district examined how school leaders use student performance data and technology-based data analysis tools to engage in data-informed decision-making for continuous improvement. School leaders in this context included leaders at the district, school, and classroom levels. An extensive literature review provided the…

  6. Reducing the Variations in Per Pupil Operating Expense Among New York State School Districts by Enlarging the Tax Base: A Regional Tax Base Model.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    New York State Div. of the Budget, Albany.

    Uneven access to taxable real property wealth currently produces wide disparities in per pupil expenditures among New York state school districts. The state's operating aid formula does not compensate for the inequities in low wealth districts having an operating expense level of more than $1,500 per pupil. In the last decade several proposals…

  7. The Salida Valley Unified School District: A Case Study in Policy Making with Regard to the Award of Credit for Experience-Based Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Banker, Nancy Sirmay

    This case study of a small suburban school district in the San Francisco Bay Area examines the interplay among individuals and groups within the district who make and implement policy decisions. The issue of awarding credit for experience-based learning focuses and directs the study. As an introduction to examination of the ways decisions are…

  8. The Relationship among State Laws, District Policies, and Elementary School-Based Measurement of Children's Body Mass Index

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sandoval, Anna; Turner, Lindsey; Nicholson, Lisa; Chriqui, Jamie; Tortorelli, Megan; Chaloupka, Frank J.

    2012-01-01

    Background: School-based measurement of children's body mass index (BMI) is a useful tool for tracking childhood obesity rates, and may be an effective intervention strategy for reducing the increasing trends in obesity. This article examines the relationship between state law, district policy, and school-level BMI measurement practices.…

  9. Urban, Suburban, and Rural Contexts of School Districts and Neighborhood Revitalization Strategies: Rediscovering Equity in Education Policy and Urban Planning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Silverman, Robert Mark

    2014-01-01

    This article revisits the debate about school reform and homeownership-based strategies for neighborhood revitalization. It is based on an analysis of school districts in New York State using data from the American Community Survey (ACS) and the New York State Education Department (NYSED). Findings indicate that the relationship between schools…

  10. Requiring School Districts to Spend Comparable Amounts on Title I Schools Is Pushing on a String. Evidence Speaks Reports, Vol 1, #21

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dynarski, Mark; Kainz, Kirsten

    2016-01-01

    Of all the rules that the U.S. Department of Education will have to formulate for the Every Student Succeeds Act, the proposed regulations to monitor that states and districts spend comparable amounts for schools eligible and not eligible to use Title I funds are attracting the most attention. Currently, districts can show comparability based on…

  11. How Much Do Test Scores Vary among School Districts? New Estimates Using Population Data, 2009-2015. CEPA Working Paper No. 17-02

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fahle, Erin M.; Reardon, Sean F.

    2017-01-01

    This paper provides the first population-based evidence on how much standardized test scores vary among public school districts within each state and how segregation explains that variation. Using roughly 300 million standardized test score records in math and ELA for grades 3 through 8 from every U.S. public school district during the 2008-09 to…

  12. Can States Take Over and Turn Around School Districts? Evidence from Lawrence, Massachusetts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schueler, Beth E.; Goodman, Joshua S.; Deming, David J.

    2017-01-01

    The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires states to identify and turn around struggling schools, with federal school improvement money required to fund evidence-based policies. Most research on turnarounds has focused on individual schools, whereas studies of district-wide turnarounds have come from relatively exceptional settings and…

  13. Learning Curve: Charting Progress on Pesticide Use and the Healthy Schools Act.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McKendry, Corina

    This progress report investigated two key questions regarding the Healthy Schools Act and pesticide use in California's schools. First, has the act reduced overall pesticide use in California's largest school districts? Second, having had a year to come into compliance, are surveyed districts meeting their responsibilities? Based on a survey of…

  14. Proposed Capital Program 1970-1975, the School District of Philadelphia.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Philadelphia School District, PA.

    This report presents the School District of Philadelphia's long-range plan for school facilities and, based upon it, a capital program for the fiscal years 1970 through 1975. Present conditions are reviewed, citing the "facility gap" and indicating future needs. The plan for school facilities is presented specifying--(1) the educational basis of…

  15. The Viability of Lease Purchases as a Means for Funding School Facilities.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bunch, Beverly S.; Smith, Tina

    2002-01-01

    Examines the use of the lease purchase of school facilities in Texas; provides background on the use of lease purchases by Texas school districts; describes factors influencing the use of lease purchases and superintendents' experiences based on survey responses from 50 school districts; recommends careful evaluation of advantages and…

  16. Expanding School-District/University Partnerships to Advance Health Promoting Schools Implementation and Efficacy in Taiwan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Chieh-Hsing; Chang, Fong-Ching; Liao, Li-Ling; Niu, Yu-Zhen; Cheng, Chi-Chia; Shih, Shu-Fang; Chang, Tzu-Chau; Chou, Hsin-Pei

    2015-01-01

    In 2011, the Taiwan government expanded its support of school-district/university partnership programs that promote the implementation of the evidenced-based Health Promoting Schools (HPS) program. This study examined whether expanding the support for this initiative was effective in advancing HPS implementation, perceived HPS impact and perceived…

  17. Indicators of asthma control among students in a rural, school-based asthma management program

    PubMed Central

    Rasberry, Catherine N.; Cheung, Karen; Buckley, Rebekah; Dunville, Richard; Daniels, Brandy; Cook, Deborah; Robin, Leah; Dean, Blair

    2015-01-01

    Objective The evaluation sought to determine if a comprehensive, school-based asthma management program in a small, rural school district helped students improve asthma control. Methods To determine if students in the asthma program demonstrated better asthma control than students in a comparison school district, the evaluation team used a quasi-experimental, cross-sectional design and administered questionnaires assessing asthma control (which included FEV1 measurement) to 456 students with asthma in the intervention and comparison districts. Data were analyzed for differences in asthma control between students in the two districts. To determine if students in the intervention experienced increased asthma control between baseline and follow-up, the evaluation team used a one-group retrospective design. Program records for 323 students were analyzed for differences in percent of predicted forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) between baseline and follow-up. Results Students with asthma in the intervention district exhibited significantly better asthma control than students with asthma in the comparison district. Percent of predicted FEV1 did not change significantly between baseline and follow-up for the intervention participants; however, post hoc analyses revealed students with poorly-controlled asthma at baseline had significantly higher FEV1 scores at follow-up, and students with well-controlled asthma at baseline had significantly lower FEV1 scores at follow-up. Conclusions Findings suggest the comprehensive school-based program led to improvements in asthma control for students with poorly controlled asthma at baseline, and school-based programs need mechanisms for tracking students with initially well-controlled asthma in order to ensure they maintain control. PMID:24730771

  18. Mild Disability Students and Everyday Mathematics: Serving the Needs of This Population

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brehe Pixler, Priscilla

    2009-01-01

    No Child Left Behind requires school districts to demonstrate adequate yearly progress in mathematics for all students, including the sub-population of disabled students. Given that more than 200 Ohio school districts have implemented Everyday Mathematics (EM) to achieve this mandate, districts need to know if this standards-based program meets…

  19. Making Sense, Making Do: Local District Implementation of a New State Induction Policy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ellis, Chad D.

    2016-01-01

    Connecticut's Teacher Education and Mentoring (TEAM) program is in its early stages of implementation. This study examined how local school districts implemented TEAM and identified factors that affected implementation. It was based on interviews with twenty-two participants at the state, district, and local school levels. The intentions of the…

  20. The Impact of Leadership Behavior of the Superintendent on Restructuring Rural Schools.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boone, Mike

    This study was conducted to identify the ways that superintendents in rural school districts deal successfully with restructuring. The analysis is based on interviews with superintendents and principals in four rural districts. The districts, in Texas and Oklahoma, were selected especially for their successful restructuring programs. The two Texas…

  1. Books at Work

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Joseph

    2006-01-01

    In this article, the author discusses a literature-based character education program at the school district of Hillsborough County in Florida. The district recently developed a comprehensive management plan in response to the much-publicized school violence of recent years. The plan addresses school issues including tornado and fire drills,…

  2. Spatial Planning of School Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Maxfield, Donald W.

    1972-01-01

    The development of several plans based on linear programming and geographic methodology will permit school administrators to make better decisions concerning the planning of school districts: where to locate boundaries, how to eliminate overcrowding, where to locate new classrooms, and how to overcome de facto segregation. The primal and dual…

  3. Competition with Charters Motivates Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Holley, Marc J.; Lueken, Martin F.; Egalite, Anna J.

    2013-01-01

    Proponents of market-based education reform often argue that introducing charter schools and other school choice policies creates a competitive dynamic that will prompt low-performing districts to improve their practice. Rather than simply providing an alternative to neighborhood public schools for a handful of students, the theory says, school…

  4. Developing Flowcharted Procedures Manuals for School District Administration within the ISO 9000 Context.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schoch, Robert

    2002-01-01

    Describes how the School District of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, implemented a districtwide quality-management system based on the Geneva-based International Standards Organization 9001, a major component of which is the documentation of procedures. Includes sections on implementation, procedure manuals, quality management, uniformity, formatting,…

  5. The Impact of a Multi-Year, Multi-School District K-6 Professional Development Programme Designed to Integrate Science Inquiry and Language Arts on Students' High-Stakes Test Scores

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shymansky, James A.; Wang, Tzu-Ling; Annetta, Leonard A.; Yore, Larry D.; Everett, Susan A.

    2013-04-01

    This paper is a report of a quasi-experimental study on the impact of a systemic 5-year, K-6 professional development (PD) project on the 'high stakes' achievement test scores of different student groups in rural mid-west school districts in the USA. The PD programme utilized regional summer workshops, district-based leadership teams and distance delivery technologies to help teachers learn science concepts and inquiry teaching strategies associated with a selection of popular science inquiry kits and how to adapt inquiry science lessons in the kits to teach and reinforce skills in the language arts-i.e. to teach more than science when doing inquiry science. Analyses of the school district-level pre-post high-stakes achievement scores of 33 school districts participating in the adaptation of inquiry PD and a comparative group of 23 school districts revealed that both the Grade 3 and Grade 6 student-cohorts in the school districts utilizing adapted science inquiry lessons significantly outscored their student-cohort counterparts in the comparative school districts. The positive school district-level high-stakes test results, which serve as the basis for state and local decision making, suggest that an inquiry adaptation strategy and a combination of regional live workshop and distance delivery technologies with ongoing local leadership and support can serve as a viable PD option for K-6 science.

  6. Different Types of Leadership Styles Found in School Districts, Both at the Building Level and District Level

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fournier, John

    2012-01-01

    In American public education today, a school can become successful or unsuccessful based on leadership. In this age of school reform, it is only appropriate to determine common leadership characteristics among successful educational leaders so that appropriate leadership training and development can be part of school improvement. This dissertation…

  7. Increasing Social and Economic Inequalities among Suburban Schools: A Study in Educational Administration and Finance. Final Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hickrod, G. Alan; Sabulao, Cesar M.

    This study of five metropolitan areas indicates increasing social and economic inequalities among suburban schools. In addition, the metropolitan areas seemed to be developing contiguous sectors of "advantaged" school districts and "disadvantaged" school districts. Financial differences are at the base of the inequalities, with high income/low tax…

  8. "We Felt They Took the Heart out of the Community": Examining a Community-Based Response to Urban School Closure

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Green, Terrance L.

    2017-01-01

    Massive school closures are occurring in urban school districts across the United States. Research suggests that school closures are the outcome of racialized neoliberal policies and decades of disinvestment that have left many urban districts with fiscal deficits and declining student enrollments. However, some urban communities have successfully…

  9. School Site Strategic Planning To Improve District Performance.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lytle, James H.

    This paper describes the evolution of a school-based planning model that accommodates independent approaches to School District of Philadelphia goals. The description centers on key strategic planning decisions made during a 6-year period and three components of the planning model: the organizational monitoring and feedback system; organizational…

  10. The Redesign of Urban School Systems: Case Studies in District Governance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McAdams, Donald R., Ed.; Katzir, Dan, Ed.

    2013-01-01

    "The Redesign of Urban School Systems" provides a uniquely valuable resource for anyone involved in preparing education leaders for the political and practical realities of district-based school reform. Edited by two leading experts in education reform, this absorbing volume brings together twelve teaching cases on urban school…

  11. District Resource Capacity and the Effects of Educational Policy: The Case of Primary Class Size Reduction in Ontario

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mascall, Blair; Leung, Joannie

    2012-01-01

    In a study of Ontario, Canada's province-wide Primary Class Size Reduction (PCS) Initiative, school districts' ability to direct and support schools was related to their experience with planning and monitoring, interest in innovation, and its human and fiscal resource base. Districts with greater "resource capacity" were able to…

  12. Bringing the Community Along: A Case Study of a School District's Information Technology Rural Development Initiative

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schafft, Kai A.; Alter, Theodore R.; Bridger, Jeffrey C.

    2006-01-01

    We draw on interactional community theory to analyze the relationship between information technology and local development through a case study of a geographically isolated and economically disadvantaged rural school district. This district has used state-of-the-art information technology infrastructure in a broad-based community and economic…

  13. Organizing English Learner Instruction in New Immigrant Destinations: District Infrastructure and Subject-Specific School Practice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hopkins, Megan; Lowenhaupt, Rebecca; Sweet, Tracy M.

    2015-01-01

    In the context of shifting demographics and standards-based reform, school districts in new immigrant destinations are charged with designing infrastructures that support teaching and learning for English learners (ELs) in core academic subjects. This article uses qualitative data and social network analysis to examine how one district in the…

  14. Parents Ask about Title I = Los padres preguntan del Titulo I.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    RMC Research Corp., Portsmouth, NH.

    Title I, the largest federal aid program for elementary, middle, and high schools, is introduced in this publication, which includes both English and Spanish versions. Through Title I, the Federal government gives money to school districts around the country based on the number of low-income families in each district. Each district uses Title I…

  15. Achieving Coherence in District Improvement: Managing the Relationship between the Central Office and Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Susan Moore; Marietta, Geoff; Higgins, Monica C.; Mapp, Karen L.; Grossman, Allen

    2015-01-01

    "Achieving Coherence in District Improvement" focuses on a problem of practice faced by educational leaders across the nation: how to effectively manage the relationship between the central office and schools. The book is based on a study of five large urban districts that have demonstrated improvement in student achievement. The…

  16. Knowledge about HIV and AIDS among Young South Africans in the Capricorn District, Limpopo Province

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Melwa, Irene T.; Oduntan, Olalekan A.

    2012-01-01

    Objective: To assess the basic knowledge about HIV and AIDS among young South Africans in the Capricorn District of Limpopo Province, South Africa. Design: A questionnaire-based cohort study, involving data collection from senior high school students. Setting: Randomly selected high schools in the Capricorn District, Limpopo Province, South…

  17. Key Elements of a Successful Multi-System Collaboration for School-Based Mental Health: In-Depth Interviews with District and Agency Administrators

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Powers, Joelle D.; Edwards, Jeffrey D.; Blackman, Kate F.; Wegmann, Kate M.

    2013-01-01

    The alarming number of youth with unmet mental health needs in the US is a significant social problem. The pilot school-based mental health project described here established an innovative multi-system partnership between an urban school district, a public mental health agency, and a local university to better meet the mental health needs of youth…

  18. One Paradox in District Accountability and Site-Based Management.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shellman, David W.

    The paradox of site-based school management with use of standardized tests or instructional management systems that restrict teacher choices was evident in one school district in North Carolina in which measurement of student success has centered on student performance on state-mandated tests. A study was conducted to see if students whose…

  19. Building School District Capacity to Conduct Functional Behavioral Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Strickland-Cohen, M. Kathleen; Kennedy, Patrick C.; Berg, Tricia A.; Bateman, Lisa J.; Horner, Robert H.

    2016-01-01

    For decades, research has shown that function-based support is effective in reducing the frequency and severity of problematic student behaviors. One way for schools and districts to implement these supports effectively is by building local capacity to intervene with function-based interventions at the first signs of persistent problem behavior…

  20. Community Based Training Centers for the Vocational Transitioning of Students with Mental Retardation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Craft, Robert D.; Martch, Theodore

    The Douglas Education Service District, Winston Dillard School District, and the Special Education Department at Douglas High School in Winston, Oregon, developed a community-based education program that emphasizes ongoing job training for students with mental disabilities and the development of competitive employment in the community. The program…

  1. Print News Coverage of School-Based Human Papillomavirus Vaccine Mandates

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Casciotti, Dana M.; Smith, Katherine C.; Andon, Lindsay; Vernick, Jon; Tsui, Amy; Klassen, Ann C.

    2014-01-01

    Background: In 2007, legislation was proposed in 24 states and the District of Columbia for school-based human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine mandates, and mandates were enacted in Texas, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Media coverage of these events was extensive, and media messages both reflected and contributed to controversy surrounding…

  2. Group 16: Mentor Teachers. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2012

    2012-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  3. Challenging School Segregation in the Twenty-First Century: How Districts Can Leverage Dual Language Education to Increase School and Classroom Diversity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kotok, Stephen; DeMatthews, David

    2018-01-01

    Nationally, schools are increasingly segregated by race and poverty as a result of demographic shifts and a changing legal and political landscape. Based on evidence that students benefit academically and socially from attending integrating settings, many school districts are exploring options for providing diverse learning experiences. We examine…

  4. Group 18: Office Staff. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2012

    2012-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  5. Group 15: Instructional Coaches. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2012

    2012-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  6. Group 19: Custodial Staff. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2012

    2012-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  7. Group 17: Educational Aides. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2012

    2012-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  8. Group 10: Counselors. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2012

    2012-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  9. The Search for Equity in School Finance: Michigan School District Response to a Guaranteed Tax Base.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Park, Rolla Edward; Carroll, Stephen J.

    Part of a three-volume report on the effects of school finance reform, this volume examines the effects of reform on Michigan school districts' budgets from 1971 to 1976. Econometric models were used. Researchers found a very small "price" effect--an elasticity of -.02. The data provide no evidence that state matching grants stimulate…

  10. Capital Program, School District of Philadelphia: July 1, 1968 to June 30, 1974.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Philadelphia Board of Education, PA.

    This report presents the School District of Philadelphia's long-range plan for school facilities and, based upon it, a capital program for the years 1969 through 1974. The plan for school facilities is preceded by a summary of present facility conditions and a consideration of indicated needs for expansion. General fiscal policies, a total program…

  11. Healthy Schools Initiative: Implementation Study in Four San Mateo County School Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Westrich, Lisa; Sanchez, Monika; Strobel, Karen; Duong, Nina

    2012-01-01

    The Sequoia Healthcare District (SHD), in collaboration with four local school districts--Belmont-Redwood Shores School District (BRSSD), Redwood City School District (RCSD), San Carlos School District (SCSD), and Sequoia Union High School District (SUHSD)--launched the Healthy Schools Initiative (HSI) in August 2010. This three-year initiative is…

  12. Evaluation of Massachusetts Office of District and School Turnaround Assistance to Commissioner's Districts and Schools: Impact of School Redesign Grants

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    LiCalsi, Christina; Citkowicz, Martyna; Friedman, Lawrence B.; Brown, Megan

    2015-01-01

    The Massachusetts Office of District and School Turnaround (ODST) assists the Commissioner's Districts (the 10 largest districts in the state) and schools within those districts. The assistance focuses on turning around the lowest performing schools in the district while building district capacity to support improvement in other district schools.…

  13. School District Program Cost Accounting: An Alternative Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hentschke, Guilbert C.

    1975-01-01

    Discusses the value for school districts of a program cost accounting system and examines different approaches to generating program cost data, with particular emphasis on the "cost allocation to program system" (CAPS) and the traditional "transaction-based system." (JG)

  14. Nutrition Quality of US School Snack Foods: A First Look at 2011-2014 Bid Records in 8 School Districts.

    PubMed

    Wang, Y Claire; Hsiao, Amber; Chamberlin, Peter; Largay, McKenzie; Archibald, Abbie; Malone, Andrew; Stevelos, JoAnn

    2017-01-01

    As part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, snacks, and desserts sold in K-12 schools as of the 2014-2015 school year are required to meet the "Smart Snacks" nutritional guidelines. Although studies exist in tracking progress in local and national efforts, the proportion of snack food procured by school districts compliant with the Smart Snacks standard prior to its full implementation is unknown. We repurposed a previously untapped database, Interflex, of public bid records to examine the nutritional quality of snacks and desserts procured by school districts. We selected 8 school districts with at least 90% complete data each year during 2011-2012, 2012-2013, and 2013-2014 school years and at locations across different regions of the United States. We quantified the amount of calories and sugar of each product contained in the won bids based on available online sources and determined whether the produce complied with Smart Snack guidelines. In all 8 districts (snack expenditure analyzed ranging from $152,000 to $4.4 million), at least 50% of snack bids were compliant with the US Department of Agriculture Smart Snacks standard during the 2013-2014 school year. Across sampled districts, we observed a general trend in lower caloric density (kcal per product) and sugar density (grams of sugar per product) over a 3-year period. Many districts across the country have made headway in complying with the Smart Snack guidelines, though gaps remain. © 2016, American School Health Association.

  15. Implementing Continuous Improvement Management (CIM) in the Public Schools.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Borgers, William E.; Thompson, Tommy A.

    This book traces the restructuring of a Texas school district that moved from management by coercion to continuous improvement for quality. In 1990, the Dickinson Independent School District (Texas) began implementation of Continuous Improvement Management (CIM), based on the teachings of W. Edwards Deming, William Glasser, and J. M. Juran.…

  16. Title I Funding: Poor Children Benefit though Funding Per Poor Child Differs. Report to Congressional Addressees.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shaul, Marnie S.

    This study examined Title I funding allocations for school years 1999-2002 and actual allocations received by school districts, interviewing state Title I directors, surveying school district administrators nationwide, and interviewing representatives from relevant federal and national organizations. Title I funds were generally targeted based on…

  17. Preparing Future Teacher Leaders: Lessons from Exemplary School Systems

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schrum, Lynne; Levin, Barbara B.

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, we argue that teachers have an opportunity to take on leadership roles in technology-rich schools and districts. Based on data collected during a year-long project to investigate award-winning schools and districts, we used observations, interviews and focus groups, and document analysis to glean lessons learned from leaders and…

  18. Testing the Test: A Study of PARCC Field Trials in Two School Districts. Policy Brief

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy, 2015

    2015-01-01

    The potential use of computer-based assessments has raised concerns from educators, policymakers, and parents about information technology infrastructure in school districts and the preparation of staff and students to use new technologies for assessment purposes, and the potential impact of testing activities on core school functions,…

  19. Antecedents and Consequences of Residential Choice and School Transfer

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Falbo, Toni; Glover, Robert W.; Holcombe, W. Lee; Stokes, S. Lynne

    2005-01-01

    This article examines the antecedents and consequences of residential choice and school transfers within one of the eight largest urban school districts in Texas. This study is based on survey data from a representative sample of parents of K-12 students enrolled in this district. In addition to demographic characteristics of the family, the…

  20. Managing Smallness: Promising Fiscal Practices for Rural School District Administrators.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Freitas, Deborah Inman

    Based on a mail survey of over 100 rural school administrators in 34 states, this handbook outlines common problems and successful strategies in the financial management of rural, small school districts. Major problems are related to revenue and cash flow, increasing expenditures, providing quality education programs, and staffing to handle the…

  1. Learning-Focused Leadership in Urban High Schools: Response to Demanding Environments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Knapp, Michael S.; Feldman, Susan; Yeh, Theresa Ling

    2013-01-01

    This article traces how the work of instructional leadership in the urban high school embodies a response to particular pressures in the school's environment. Based on evidence from multiple-case study research in four urban districts, the article demonstrates how supervisory and nonsupervisory leaders fashioned responses to the district (and…

  2. Promoting the Construction of an Optimal Nurse's Office Facility: One School District's Experience.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McKibben, Cynthia; DiPaolo, Sonja J.

    1997-01-01

    Details recommendations for updating or constructing nurses' offices based upon a descriptive study done in one midwestern school district. Suggestions are provided on size, location, and equipment needed. Also addressed is the communication process needed to persuade a board of education and school administrators that nursing facilities must be a…

  3. Communication: A Plan for Small School Districts.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Council of Communicators, Austin, TX.

    Since communication is the working link between the school district and the community it serves, public school administrators serving small towns or rural areas are developing a planned program of two-way communication based on a clear policy statement adopted by the board of trustees which basically upholds the public's right to know. In order to…

  4. Smoking Patterns in Oregon Youth: Effects of Funding and Defunding of a Comprehensive State Tobacco Control Program

    PubMed Central

    Pizacani, Barbara A.; Dent, Clyde W.; Maher, Julie E.; Rohde, Kristen; Stark, Michael J.; Biglan, Anthony; Thompson, Jill

    2014-01-01

    Purpose Comprehensive tobacco control programs have included school-based prevention programs as a key strategy to reach adolescents. Unfortunately, these programs have undergone extensive budget reductions in recent years. In 2003, funding for the Oregon Tobacco Prevention and Education Program was reduced by about 70%, and the school component was entirely defunded. To assess the effects of program funding and subsequent defunding on smoking prevalence within targeted Oregon schools, we compared the change in 30-day smoking prevalence between grades 8 and 11 in school districts in two periods: namely, during funding and after funding was eliminated. Methods We used annual school-based survey data for grades 8 and 11 to describe district-level changes in smoking prevalence in five age cohorts: two during the funding period and three after defunding. Each cohort was comprised of districts whose 8th-graders completed the survey and participated again 3 years later. Using mixed models, we compared the change in 30-day adjusted smoking prevalence among cohorts in funded districts, defunded districts, and districts that never received funding. Results Smoking prevalence growth was significantly higher among cohorts from the defunded period than for cohorts from the funded period (p = .04) and was not significantly different from schools that were never-funded (p = .79). Conclusions In Oregon, funding a school component of a comprehensive tobacco control strategy was associated with depressed uptake of smoking. Gains were quickly lost upon program defunding. School programs are an important strategy if they are long term, comprehensive, and reinforced in the larger environment. PMID:19237108

  5. Building Bridges between Knowledge and Practice: A University-School District Leadership Preparation Program Partnership

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sanzo, Karen L.; Myran, Steve; Clayton, Jennifer K.

    2011-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a Year 1 account of a partnership between a university and rural school district focusing specifically on how the project has helped to bridge the theory to practice divide and strengthen university-district ties. Design/methodology/approach: A design-based research paradigm was utilized to…

  6. Wisconsin District Case Study. A Report and Estimating Tool for K-12 School Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Consortium for School Networking, 2004

    2004-01-01

    The Wisconsin case study school district is primarily urban and growing with 21,500 students on 40 campuses. This document contains case studies that are presented in the same format at the 2003 studies, but also have a focus on additional technologies beyond the base distributed computing model. These new technologies are voice/data integration,…

  7. Tax Base Composition and Family Income in Measuring School District Fiscal Capacity. Working Papers in Education Finance, Paper No. 12.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vincent, Phillip E.; Adams, E. Kathleen

    The authors' review of several studies on school district fiscal response to state aid formulas precedes a summary of their research results from case studies of Colorado and Minnesota. The studies reviewed examined factors influencing district fiscal capacity and expenditure changes made in response to aid formulas, especially to…

  8. Public school segregation and juvenile violent crime arrests in metropolitan areas.

    PubMed

    Eitle, David; Eitle, Tamela McNulty

    2010-01-01

    Previous research has established an association between residential segregation and violent crime in urban America. Our study examines whether school-based segregation is predictive of arrests of juveniles for violent crimes in U.S. metro areas. Using Census, Uniform Crime Report, and Common Core data for 204 metro areas, a measure of school-based racial segregation, Theil's entropy index, is decomposed into two components: between- and within-district segregation. Findings reveal evidence of a significant interaction term: Within-district segregation is inversely associated with arrests for juvenile violence, but only in metropolitan areas with higher than average levels of between-district segregation.

  9. The Utility of Curriculum-Based Measurement within a Multitiered Framework: Establishing Cut Scores as Predictors of Student Performance on the Alaska Standards-Based Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Legg, David E.

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between student performance on Reading Curriculum-based Measures (R-CBM) and student performance on the Alaska's standards based assessment (SBA) administered to students in Studied School District (SSD) Grade 3 through Grade 5 students in the Studied School District as required by…

  10. Voices of Reform: Infusion of Standards-Based Mathematics and Science Teaching in an Urban District.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huinker, DeAnn; Coan, Cheryl; Posnanski, Tracy

    This study examined the impact of a systemic reform initiative to implement standards-based mathematics and science teaching and learning in one urban school district, noting its effect on teachers, principals, students, and classroom practice. Participants were a sample of elementary and secondary schools involved in the Milwaukee Urban Systemic…

  11. Taking School-Based Substance Abuse Prevention to Scale: District-Wide Implementation of Keep a Clear Mind

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jowers, Keri L.; Bradshaw, Catherine P.; Gately, Sherry

    2007-01-01

    Public schools are under increased pressure to implement evidence-based substance abuse prevention programs. A number of model programs have been identified, but little research has examined the effectiveness of these programs when "brought to scale" or implemented district-wide. The current paper summarizes the application of the Adelman and…

  12. The Effect of Accelerated Reader on Reading Scores in a Rural School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hunter, Teresa A.

    2013-01-01

    In this study, the implementation of Accelerated Reader (AR), a computer-assisted supplemental reading program, was investigated as a research-based instructional strategy to assess whether it aided a high-performing, rural school district in meeting adequate yearly progress goals. The theoretical framework was based on Vygotsky's zone of…

  13. An Exploration of Community Relations between a Public High School District and Faith-Based Organizations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Beerbower, John David

    2013-01-01

    An effective school leader explores better ways to communicate with the community stakeholder their district serves. Often, some of the strongest groups in a community are the faith-based organizations (FBOs). A qualitative, action research design was used to explore three primary questions. The study provided an example for exploring perceptions…

  14. Evaluation of the LiveWell@School Food Initiative Shows Increases in Scratch Cooking and Improvement in Nutritional Content.

    PubMed

    Schober, Daniel J; Carpenter, Leah; Currie, Venita; Yaroch, Amy L

    2016-08-01

    The purpose of this evaluation was to examine the effects of the LiveWell@School Food Initiative (LW@SFI), a Colorado-based childhood obesity prevention program that partners with school districts to enable them to serve more scratch cooked foods through culinary training, action planning, and equipment grants. This evaluation used a quasi-experimental design that examined menu cycles prior to entering the LW@SFI and approximately 1 year later. A review of school menus with food service directors from 9 Colorado school districts was conducted. Data show that districts changed an average of 17.4 entrées and 19.7 side dishes over the course of the year. Changes to serving scratch cooked foods were highest for sauces (an increase of 40.5%). No districts were cooking beans/legumes from scratch during baseline or at follow-up. Across the 9 districts, 7 observed statistically significant pre-post reductions in sodium, 4 in fat, 5 in saturated fat, and 3 in calories. Within a year of implementing the LW@SFI, school districts increased the proportion of fresh, scratch cooked foods they offered and this was associated with some decreases in calories, fat, saturated fat, and sodium, contributing to healthier school food environments. © 2016, American School Health Association.

  15. Group 5: Itinerant English Language Learner (ELL) Teachers. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2013

    2013-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  16. Group 2a: Early Childhood Education Teachers. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2013

    2013-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  17. Group 7: Visiting Instruction Service (VIS) Teachers. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2013

    2013-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  18. Group 3: Special Education Teachers. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2013

    2013-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  19. Group 3a: Special Education Teachers--Autism Program. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2013

    2013-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  20. Group 6: Shared Special Subject Teachers. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2013

    2013-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  1. Group 8: Student Support Professionals. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2013

    2013-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  2. Youth Participatory Action Research in the High School Curriculum: Education Outcomes for Student Participants in a District-Wide Initiative

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Voight, Adam; Velez, Valerie

    2018-01-01

    This study employed a quasi-experimental design to examine the effects of a school-based youth participatory action research program on the education outcomes of participating high school students. The program was a year-long elective course in six high schools in the same California district whose student population is predominantly low-income…

  3. Group 14: Program Coordinators and Deans. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2012

    2012-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  4. Group 9: Library Media Specialists. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2012

    2012-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  5. Group 12: Related Service Providers. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2012

    2012-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  6. Group 13: Special Education Coordinators. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2012

    2012-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  7. The Relationship between Principal Leadership and Teacher Morale in the Elementary Schools in a Northwest Georgia School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Webb, Dan O.

    2014-01-01

    This study examined the difference between 2012 CRCT math sores based on principal leadership styles and teacher morale, as well as the relationship between teacher morale and 2012 CRCT math scores at each of the 12 elementary schools within a Northwest Georgia county school district. There is a gap in current research regarding the importance of…

  8. An Analysis of School District Consolidation of Nassau County, Long Island, New York

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thompson, Samuel Melton, IV

    2014-01-01

    This study analyzed the plausibility of merging school districts in New York State. The study considered how consolidation impacts finance, instruction, demographics, and enrollment for 56 public schools in Nassau County of the Long Island region of New York State. It also draws comparisons for county-, township-, and regionally-based school…

  9. Underuse of Title VII Funding for Indian Education in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    West Comprehensive Center at WestEd, 2015

    2015-01-01

    Title VII provides funding for the education of American Indian/Alaska Native students based on a formula grant available to school districts, charter schools, and local education agencies (LEAs). This report explores why some eligible schools and districts do not apply for federal Title VII, potentially resulting in American Indian/Alaska Native…

  10. The Community Transition Program: Experiences Starting a Community-Based Program for Students Aged 18-21

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baska, Llara; Kaufman, Anne; Gaumer, Amy

    2003-01-01

    The passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) in 1990 and the subsequent reauthorization in 1997 mandate school districts to provide transition services for students with disabilities in order to improve post-school outcomes for these youth. To help meet the requirements for transition, many school districts have developed…

  11. A Different Kind of District.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Joiner, Lottie L.

    2003-01-01

    Department of Defense schools, equivalent to the 23rd largest school district in the country, serve military families on bases here and abroad. Despite the fact that only 40 percent of the students finish the academic year in the same school where they started, 80 percent of the graduates go on to college and minority students perform better that…

  12. The Logistics of Implementing a Field-Based Comprehensive School Reform Initiative

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reeves, Dawn E.

    2014-01-01

    This research is a qualitative, reflective case study regarding a cohort in the form of a district-university partnership between the Oak Park Schools in Oak Park, Michigan and the College of Education at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The initiators of the program envisioned a more successful urban school district by offering…

  13. The Role of Supervisory Assistant Principals in District Change Initiatives within New York City Department of Education High Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Quinlan, Robert James

    2015-01-01

    The onset of the first decade of the 21st century has seen many district change initiatives within the New York City Department of Education. Several of these district initiatives have been instructionally-based and thus have made the role of high school supervisory assistant principals integral in their successful implementation. The purpose of…

  14. Group 4: Non-Itinerant English Language Learner (ELL) Teachers. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2013

    2013-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  15. Group 1: General Education Teachers with Individual Value-Added Student Achievement Data. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2013

    2013-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  16. Group 3b: Special Education Teachers--Early Childhood Education. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2013

    2013-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  17. Cycle-Based Budgeting and Continuous Improvement at Jefferson County Public Schools: Year 2 Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yan, Bo

    2017-01-01

    This report documents the second year of implementing Cycle-based Budgeting at Jefferson County Public Schools (Louisville, KY). In addition to aligning another $24.3 million new spending with the district's strategic plan, $20.3 million of existing spending was rolled into the process. Next, the challenges faced by the district to review 105…

  18. Comparison of indoor air quality management strategies between the school and district levels in New York State.

    PubMed

    Lin, Shao; Kielb, Christine L; Reddy, Amanda L; Chapman, Bonnie R; Hwang, Syni-An

    2012-03-01

    Good school indoor air quality (IAQ) can affect the health and functioning of school occupants. Thus, it is important to assess the degree to which schools and districts employ strategies to ensure good IAQ management. We examined and compared the patterns of IAQ management strategies between public elementary schools and their school districts in New York State. District-level information obtained from surveys of district facilities managers in 326 districts was described and stratified by district size and socioeconomic status. School-level information obtained from surveys of head custodians in 770 elementary schools was then compared with the district-level information in 241 districts. About 47% of participating school districts reported having a district-wide IAQ program, with a large range in the prevalence of specific IAQ management strategies. Airing out newly painted areas was the most commonly reported (92%) and having a classroom animal policy was the least commonly reported (29%). Larger districts and districts with a district-wide IAQ program were more likely to report certain IAQ strategies than other districts. Elementary schools and their districts were most likely to report airing out newly painted areas (76%). The most common area of disagreement was construction after hours (50%). The top strategy not reported at either level was having an IAQ coordinator (53%). Many school districts lack key IAQ management strategies, and differences exist between district-level policy and school-level practice. Districts and schools should work together to formalize and expand existing IAQ policies and inform stakeholders about these strategies. © 2012, American School Health Association.

  19. Examining statewide capacity for school health and mental health promotion: a post hoc application of a district capacity-building framework.

    PubMed

    Maras, Melissa A; Weston, Karen J; Blacksmith, Jennifer; Brophy, Chelsey

    2015-03-01

    Schools must possess a variety of capacities to effectively support comprehensive and coordinated school health promotion activities, and researchers have developed a district-level capacity-building framework specific to school health promotion. State-level school health coalitions often support such capacity-building efforts and should embed this work within a data-based, decision-making model. However, there is a lack of guidance for state school health coalitions on how they should collect and use data. This article uses a district-level capacity-building framework to interpret findings from a statewide coordinated school health needs/resource assessment in order to examine statewide capacity for school health promotion. Participants included school personnel (N = 643) from one state. Descriptive statistics were calculated for survey items, with further examination of subgroup differences among school administrators and nurses. Results were then interpreted via a post hoc application of a district-level capacity-building framework. Findings across districts revealed statewide strengths and gaps with regard to leadership and management capacities, internal and external supports, and an indicator of global capacity. Findings support the utility of using a common framework across local and state levels to align efforts and embed capacity-building activities within a data-driven, continuous improvement model. © 2014 Society for Public Health Education.

  20. Establishing a Framework for Quality

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lehman, Kirby

    2006-01-01

    The Jenks School District applies a continuous improvement approach that focuses on academics, arts, activities, athletics and attitude, weaving in leadership, professional development, technology and data-based decision making to prepare all learners to be productive, responsible citizens. Since 1998, the Jenks School District has embraced a…

  1. Physical Education Curriculum Analysis Tool (PECAT)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Sarah M.; Wechsler, Howell

    2006-01-01

    The Physical Education Curriculum Analysis Tool (PECAT) will help school districts conduct a clear, complete, and consistent analysis of written physical education curricula, based upon national physical education standards. The PECAT is customizable to include local standards. The results from the analysis can help school districts enhance…

  2. Response to "Alternative Measures of School District Wealth" by Allan Odden

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johns, Roe L.

    1977-01-01

    Argues against John's suggestion that state equalization aid to local school districts should be based on measures of per-capita income and assessed property valuation per capita, rather than on measures of local tax revenue and assessed property valuation per pupil. (JG)

  3. School-based BMI and body composition screening and parent notification in California: methods and messages.

    PubMed

    Madsen, Kristine A; Linchey, Jennifer

    2012-06-01

    School-based body mass index (BMI) or body composition screening is increasing, but little is known about the process of parent notification. Since 2001, California has required annual screening of body composition via the FITNESSGRAM, with optional notification. This study sought to identify the prevalence of parental notification when screening is required but notification is optional, and the methods and messages used. Researchers conducted phone interviews with 851 school districts (89%) in California and reviewed notification materials from 54 districts. As of 2008, 53% of California districts notified parents of screening results. Many districts (24%) did not know the reason for their notification policy. Most districts notified parents via a letter mailed home (70%) or sent home with the child (18%). Whereas 79% of sample letters provided students' BMI, only 12% provided an explanation of BMI, and only half provided tips on what parents should do if concerned about their child's results. In California, where body composition screening is required but parent notification is not, approximately half of school districts elect to notify parents of results, most commonly via letter. Most letters do not explain BMI or percent body fat scores, nor do they suggest what parents should do for a child identified as at-risk. Further research to identify interpretable and actionable notification messages for parents will be critical if school-based BMI and body composition screening and notification is to reduce childhood obesity. Published 2012. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

  4. Accuracy of Principal and Teacher Knowledge of School District Policies on Sun Protection in California Elementary Schools.

    PubMed

    Buller, David B; Reynolds, Kim D; Berteletti, Julia; Massie, Kim; Ashley, Jeff; Buller, Mary Klein; Meenan, Richard T

    2018-01-18

    Policy is a key aspect of school-based efforts to prevent skin cancer. We explored the extent and accuracy of knowledge among principals and teachers in California public school districts about the elements specified in their district's written sun safety policy. The sample consisted of California public school districts that subscribed to the California School Boards Association, had an elementary school, adopted Board Policy 5141.7 for sun safety, and posted it online. The content of each policy was coded. Principals (n = 118) and teachers (n = 113) in elementary schools were recruited from September 2013 through December 2015 and completed a survey on sun protection policies and practices from January 2014 through April 2016. Only 38 of 117 principals (32.5%) were aware that their school district had a sun protection policy. A smaller percentage of teachers (13 of 109; 11.9%) than principals were aware of the policy (F 108 = 12.76, P < .001). We found greater awareness of the policy among principals and teachers who had more years of experience working in public education (odds ratio [OR] = 1.05, F 106 = 4.71, P = .03) and worked in schools with more non-Hispanic white students (OR = 7.65, F 109 = 8.61, P = .004) and fewer Hispanic students (OR = 0.28, F 109 = 4.27, P = .04). Policy adoption is an important step in implementing sun safety practices in schools, but districts may need more effective means of informing school principals and teachers of sun safety policies. Implementation will lag without clear understanding of the policy's content by school personnel.

  5. Tort Liability of School Districts, Officers, and Employees.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lenaghan, James M.

    A tort is a civil wrong not based on a contractual obligation and which results in injury to a person. In a tort action, the injured party can collect from whomever injured him. This chapter, one of seven in the 1973 Yearbook of School Law, reports those court opinions that deal directly with tort liability of school districts, officers, and…

  6. Performance Evaluation and Compensation for Public School Principals: Results from a National Survey

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kimball, Steven M.; Heneman, Herbert G., III; Milanowski, Anthony

    2007-01-01

    This article reports on a national survey designed to learn how medium and large school districts are using standards-based leadership evaluation and related human resource management practices, such as pay for performance. Surveys were sent to all school districts in the United States with student populations 10,000 and over (total n=867).…

  7. Long-Term Impact of a District-Wide School/Community-Based Substance Abuse Prevention Initiative on Gateway Drug Use

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lohrmann, David K.; Alter, Randi J.; Greene, Robert; Younoszai, Tina M.

    2005-01-01

    This study examined long-term effects of a school/family/community substance abuse prevention partnership intervention lead by a Midwestern school district. Previous findings suggested that the program contributed to decreased tobacco and marijuana, but not alcohol, use prior to and after implementation between 1987 and 1991. The current study…

  8. Implementation at the School Building Level: The Development and Analysis of Nine Mini-Case Studies.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hall, Gene; And Others

    As part of a district-wide longitudinal study of the implementation of a science curriculum innovation, researchers developed case studies of a sample of nine elementary schools in the Jefferson County School District, a large suburban system in Colorado. The study applied the Concerns-Based Adoption Model, which assumes that change is carried out…

  9. Federal Contributions to High-Income School Districts: The Use of Tax Deductions for Funding K-12 Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Loeb, Susannna; Socias, Miguel

    2004-01-01

    The federal role in education finance is commonly seen as compensatory. The federal government gives large sums of money to low-income schools and school districts through programs such as Title 1. Yet, this view of federal aid is based solely on direct educational expenditures. The federal government and state governments also support schools…

  10. Modernizing "San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez": How Evolving Supreme Court Jurisprudence Changes the Face of Education Finance Litigation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Saleh, Matthew

    2011-01-01

    This article aims to "modernize" the current legal debate over inequitable public school funding at the state and local level. The 1973 Supreme Court case of "San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez" established precedent, allowing for property-tax based education funding programs at the state-level--a major source…

  11. Leadership and Collaboration in Complex Organizations: Principals' Interactions with Central Office in Two Large School Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Marietta, Geoff Eckman

    2015-01-01

    There is increasing pressure on the central office, particularly in large school districts, to improve student outcomes across schools and to close large achievement gaps between groups of students based largely on race and income (Louis, 2008; Honig 2012). Reforms intended to "raise the bar and close the gap" in student achievement are…

  12. A Multigrade, Multiyear Statewide Examination of Reading Achievement: Examination of Reading Achievement Examining Variability between Districts, Schools, and Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adelson, Jill L.; Dickinson, Emily R.; Cunningham, Brittany C.

    2016-01-01

    This brief examined the patterns of reading achievement using statewide data from all students (Grades 3-10) in multiple years to examine gaps based on student, school, and district characteristics. Results indicate reading achievement varied most between students within schools and that students' prior achievement was the strongest predictor of…

  13. The Micropolitics of School District Decentralization

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bjork, Lars G.; Blase, Joseph

    2009-01-01

    This case study of school district educational reform in the United States adds to the knowledge base of macropolitics of federal, state and local governing bodies and private sector agencies in formulating educational policies: It also contributes to our understanding the microplitics of policy implementation. Middle managers' political…

  14. Mass-casualty events at schools: a national preparedness survey.

    PubMed

    Graham, James; Shirm, Steve; Liggin, Rebecca; Aitken, Mary E; Dick, Rhonda

    2006-01-01

    Recent school shootings and terrorist events have demonstrated the need for well-coordinated planning for school-based mass-casualty events. The objective of this study was to document the preparedness of public schools in the United States for the prevention of and the response to a mass-casualty event. A survey was mailed to 3670 school superintendents of public school districts that were chosen at random from a list of school districts from the National Center for Education Statistics of the US Department of Education in January 2004. A second mailing was sent to nonresponders in May 2004. Descriptive statistics were used for survey variables, and the chi2 test was used to compare urban versus rural preparedness. The response rate was 58.2% (2137 usable surveys returned). Most (86.3%) school superintendents reported having a response plan, but fewer (57.2%) have a plan for prevention. Most (95.6%) have an evacuation plan, but almost one third (30%) had never conducted a drill. Almost one quarter (22.1%) have no disaster plan provisions for children with special health care needs, and one quarter reported having no plans for postdisaster counseling. Almost half (42.8%) had never met with local ambulance officials to discuss emergency planning. Urban school districts were better prepared than rural districts on almost all measures in the survey. There are important deficiencies in school emergency/disaster planning. Rural districts are less well prepared than urban districts. Disaster/mass-casualty preparedness of schools should be improved through coordination of school officials and local medical and emergency officials.

  15. Group 2: Grades 1-12 General Education Teachers without Individual Value-Added Student Achievement Data. IMPACT: The District of Columbia Public Schools Effectiveness Assessment System for School-Based Personnel, 2012-2013

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    District of Columbia Public Schools, 2013

    2013-01-01

    The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

  16. Computer conferencing: the "nurse" in the "Electronic School District".

    PubMed

    Billings, D M; Phillips, A

    1991-01-01

    As computer-based instructional technologies become increasingly available, they offer new mechanisms for health educators to provide health instruction. This article describes a pilot project in which nurses established a computer conference to provide health instruction to high school students participating in an electronic link of high schools. The article discusses computer conferencing, the "Electronic School District," the design of the nursing conference, and the role of the nurse in distributed health education.

  17. Measurement invariance of an instrument assessing sustainability of school-based universal behavior practices.

    PubMed

    Mercer, Sterett H; McIntosh, Kent; Strickland-Cohen, M Kathleen; Horner, Robert H

    2014-06-01

    The purpose of the study was to examine the extent to which the School-Wide Universal Behavior Sustainability Index: School Teams (SUBSIST; McIntosh, Doolittle, Vincent, Horner, & Ervin, 2009), a measure of school and district contextual factors that promote the sustainability of school practices, demonstrated measurement invariance across groups of schools that differed in length of time implementing school-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS; Sugai & Horner, 2009), student ethnic composition, and student socioeconomic status (SES). School PBIS team members and district coaches representing 860 schools in 14 U.S. states completed the SUBSIST. Findings supported strong measurement invariance, for all items except 1, of a model with two school-level factors (School Priority and Team Use of Data) and 2 district-level factors (District Priority and Capacity Building) across groups of schools at initial implementation, institutionalization, and sustainability phases of PBIS implementation. Schools in the sustainability phase were rated significantly higher on School Priority and Team Use of Data than schools in initial implementation. Strong measurement invariance held across groups of schools that differed in student ethnicity and SES. The findings regarding measurement invariance are important for future longitudinal investigations of factors that may promote the sustained implementation of school practices. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

  18. The Effects of Implementing a Computer-Based Reading Support Program on the Reading Achievement of Sixth Graders

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Falke, Tricia Rae

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a computer-based reading intervention on the reading achievement of sixth grade students in one elementary school in a suburban school district located in the Midwest region of the United States. Data were collected through two district mandated reading assessments and a computer-based…

  19. Using Synthetic Controls to Evaluate the Effect of Unique Interventions: The Case of Say Yes to Education.

    PubMed

    Bifulco, Robert; Rubenstein, Ross; Sohn, Hosung

    2017-12-01

    "Place-based" scholarships seek to improve student outcomes in urban school districts and promote urban revitalization in economically challenged cities. Say Yes to Education is a unique district-wide school reform effort adopted in Syracuse, NY, in 2008. It includes full-tuition scholarships for public and private universities, coupled with extensive wraparound support services in schools. This study uses synthetic control methods to evaluate the effect of Say Yes on district enrollment and graduation rates. It also introduces the synthetic control method and provides guidance for its use in evaluating single-site interventions. Combining school district-level data from the National Center for Education Statistics' Common Core of Data and New York State School Report Cards, this article uses synthetic control methods to construct a synthetic comparison district to estimate counterfactual enrollment and graduation trends for Syracuse. We find that Say Yes to Education was associated with enrollment increases in the Syracuse City School District, a district that had previously experienced decades of sustained enrollment declines. We do not find consistent evidence of changes in graduation rates following adoption of the program. Graduation rate analyses demonstrate that estimates of treatment effects can be sensitive to choices that the researcher has to make in applying synthetic control methods, particularly when pretreatment outcome measures appear to have considerable amounts of noise.

  20. Interpretive phenomenological analysis of a lawsuit contending that school-based yoga is religion: A study of school personnel.

    PubMed

    Cook-Cottone, Catherine; Lemish, Erga; Guyker, Wendy

    2017-11-01

    This study focused on the perspectives of school personnel affiliated with the Encinitas Union School District in California following a lawsuit arguing that their yoga-based program included religion and therefore was unsuitable for implementation in public schools and was unconstitutional. Participants (N = 32) were interviewed using a semistructured interview, and data were analyzed according to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Five super-ordinate themes (including sub-themes) were identified in an iterative process, including: participants' perspectives on the roots of yoga and the type of yoga taught in their district; the process of introducing a yoga-in-the-schools program in light of this contention (including challenges and obstacles, and how these were met); perspectives on the lawsuit and how the process unfolded; effects of the lawsuit on school climate and beyond; and perspectives on yoga as, and as not, religious. The study attempts to shed light on the impact of an ongoing lawsuit on a school district at the time of implementation of a program for students' well being.

  1. Interpretive phenomenological analysis of a lawsuit contending that school-based yoga is religion: A study of school personnel.

    PubMed

    Cook-Cottone, Catherine; Lemish, Erga; Guyker, Wendy

    2017-08-01

    This study focused on the perspectives of school personnel affiliated with the Encinitas Union School District in California following a lawsuit arguing that their yoga-based program included religion and therefore was unsuitable for implementation in public schools and was unconstitutional. Participants (N = 32) were interviewed using a semistructured interview, and data were analyzed according to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Five super-ordinate themes (including sub-themes) were identified in an iterative process, including: participants' perspectives on the roots of yoga and the type of yoga taught in their district; the process of introducing a yoga-in-the-schools program in light of this contention (including challenges and obstacles, and how these were met); perspectives on the lawsuit and how the process unfolded; effects of the lawsuit on school climate and beyond; and perspectives on yoga as, and as not, religious. The study attempts to shed light on the impact of an ongoing lawsuit on a school district at the time of implementation of a program for students' well being.

  2. School Improvement Change Grant Community Survey, Final Report. A Report to Toluca Community Unit School District #2, El Paso Community Unit School District #375, Lowpoint-Washburn Community Unit School District #21, Minonk-Dana-Rutland Community Unit School District #108, and Roanoke-Benson Community Unit School District #60.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    O'Connell, Patricia A.; And Others

    This report presents the results of a collaborative study undertaken by five rural, unit school districts in Illinois to provide data to be used in planning for school improvement. Information was gathered from on-site visits by teams of constituents from other districts and through a survey of perceptions of local community persons regarding…

  3. Early Identification Guidelines: Suburban Model (Lucas County School District).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ohio State Dept. of Education, Columbus. Div. of Educational Services.

    Developed by a suburban school district, this manual provides guidelines for the early identification of gifted preschool children and describes Project Unicorn, a project to conceptualize, plan, and implement a classroom curriculum model for gifted young children. Project activities were based on Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development and…

  4. Tips for School Districts: GASB's New Fund Balance Standards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mead, Dean Michael

    2010-01-01

    In March 2009, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued Statement No. 54, "Fund Balance Reporting and Governmental Fund Type Definitions." School districts that prepare financial reports based on generally accepted accounting principles are required to implement this standard no later than the first fiscal year that starts after…

  5. Future Search in School District Change: Connection, Community, and Results

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schweitz, Rita; Martens, Kim; Aronson, Nancy; Weisbord, Marvin; Janoff, Sandra

    2005-01-01

    This book contains sixteen compelling case studies that illustrate the power of future search to create lasting, whole system change. Future Search in School District Change: Connection, Community, and Results chronicles ways in which educational institutions have used broad-based stakeholder involvement to improve education. These experiences, by…

  6. Computer Assisted Instruction. 1988-89. 353 Project.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Granite School District, Salt Lake City, UT.

    The Granite School District (Utah) conducted a project to implement competency-based/technology-assisted instruction in all of its adult high schools. The district adopted the state's core curriculum in order to establish clearly defined instructional goals and objectives; revised and added to the instructional units; made the curriculum uniform…

  7. The Promise of a College Scholarship Transforms a District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ritter, Gary W.; Ash, Jennifer

    2016-01-01

    Promise programs are place-based scholarships, generally tied to a city or school district, offering near-universal access to all living in the "place." While Promise programs share some characteristics with other scholarship programs, they're unique because they seek to change communities and schools. Underlying such promise programs is…

  8. Cluster Analysis of Minnesota School Districts. A Research Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cleary, James

    The term "cluster analysis" refers to a set of statistical methods that classify entities with similar profiles of scores on a number of measured dimensions, in order to create empirically based typologies. A 1980 Minnesota House Research Report employed cluster analysis to categorize school districts according to their relative mixtures…

  9. Evaluating the impact of a Connecticut program to reduce availability of unhealthy competitive food in schools.

    PubMed

    Long, Michael W; Henderson, Kathryn E; Schwartz, Marlene B

    2010-10-01

    This article seeks to inform state and local school food policies by evaluating the impact of Connecticut's Healthy Food Certification (HFC), a program which provides monetary incentives to school districts that choose to implement state nutrition standards for all foods sold to students outside reimbursable school meals. Food service directors from all school districts participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) (N = 151) in Connecticut were surveyed about the availability of competitive foods before and after the 2006-2007 implementation of HFC. Food categories were coded as healthy or unhealthy based on whether they met the Connecticut Nutrition Standards. Data on NSLP participation were provided by the State Department of Education. Changes in NSLP participation and availability of unhealthy competitive foods in elementary, middle, and high schools were compared pre- and post-HFC across districts participating (n = 74) versus not participating (n = 77) in HFC. On average, all districts in Connecticut reduced the availability of unhealthy competitive foods, with a significantly greater reduction among HFC districts. Average NSLP participation also increased across the state. Participating in HFC was associated with significantly greater NSLP participation for paid meals in middle school; however, implementing HFC did not increase overall NSLP participation beyond the statewide upward trend. The 2006-2007 school year was marked by a significant decrease in unhealthy competitive foods and an increase in NSLP participation across the state. Participation in Connecticut's voluntary HFC further reduced the availability of unhealthy competitive foods in local school districts, and had either a positive or neutral effect on NSLP participation. © 2010, American School Health Association.

  10. Insights into Education's Race to the Top: Correlational Survey Exploring Perceptions of Organizational Culture and Change Ambivalence during the Implementation of a Mandated Performance Evaluation System in a Northeast U.S. School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schwamb, Andrea B.

    2013-01-01

    American public schools are currently facing a new mandated evaluation system that will create substantial change by requiring districts to evaluate professional staff based on two quantified measures: (a) state testing, and (b) a district determined measure. Although reforms have been at the forefront of policymakers' agendas, these initiatives…

  11. School-Based Management: Theory and Practice.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    George, Patricia, Ed.; Potter, Eugenia Cooper, Ed.

    School-based management (SBM), sometimes called site-based management, is fast becoming the hottest restructuring item in the arsenal of reformers, teachers' unions, governors, and legislators who want to change the traditional ways in which schools and school districts do business. This document comprises three main sections with contributions…

  12. Characteristics of School Districts That Participate in Rigorous National Educational Evaluations

    PubMed Central

    Stuart, Elizabeth A.; Bell, Stephen H.; Ebnesajjad, Cyrus; Olsen, Robert B.; Orr, Larry L.

    2017-01-01

    Given increasing interest in evidence-based policy, there is growing attention to how well the results from rigorous program evaluations may inform policy decisions. However, little attention has been paid to documenting the characteristics of schools or districts that participate in rigorous educational evaluations, and how they compare to potential target populations for the interventions that were evaluated. Utilizing a list of the actual districts that participated in 11 large-scale rigorous educational evaluations, we compare those districts to several different target populations of districts that could potentially be affected by policy decisions regarding the interventions under study. We find that school districts that participated in the 11 rigorous educational evaluations differ from the interventions’ target populations in several ways, including size, student performance on state assessments, and location (urban/rural). These findings raise questions about whether, as currently implemented, the results from rigorous impact studies in education are likely to generalize to the larger set of school districts—and thus schools and students—of potential interest to policymakers, and how we can improve our study designs to retain strong internal validity while also enhancing external validity. PMID:29276552

  13. A Pilot Study to Explore the Equity Issues and Problems in Vocational Education in Illinois.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lynn, Mary Ann; And Others

    A pilot study addressed the economic issue in vocational education as it relates to the wealth and size of school districts. Examined during the study were nine high schools and nine unit districts that fell into three subgroups based on wealth and enrollment. Data were gathered from public records as well as from school business managers and…

  14. The Impact of Standards-Based Reform on Special Education and the Creation of the 'Dividual

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bacon, Jessica

    2015-01-01

    An urban Pre-K through 5th grade school referred to as Westvale Elementary School was the focal point for this research study. Westvale was located within an urban district in New York State that was host to approximately 20,000 students. Both the school and the district were labeled as failing under the No Child Left Behind Act. Foucauldian…

  15. Providing for the Needs of New Teachers: A Study of New Teacher Induction in a Rural School District in Central North Carolina

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Powell, Lori T.

    2016-01-01

    This study evaluated the effectiveness of a new teacher induction program as implemented in a rural school district in central North Carolina. All beginning teachers with 3 or less years of experience, all school-based administrators, and all mentoring teachers were the target participants. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the…

  16. School-Based Management and Arts Education: Lessons from Chicago

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fitzpatrick, Kate R.

    2012-01-01

    School-based management, or local school control, is an organizational school reform effort aimed at decentralizing school decision-making that has become prevalent in districts throughout the United States. Using the groundbreaking Chicago system of local school control as an exemplar, this article outlines the implications of such reform efforts…

  17. Site-Based Management: Crisis or Opportunity?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lausberg, Clement H.

    1990-01-01

    If appropriate planning occurs, business officials can support site-based management. Districts need to develop new working relationships that appropriately balance the responsibility of the business office for district finances and support services with more site-based management at the school level. (MLF)

  18. Commissioner's Report to the Education Committees of the Senate and General Assembly on Violence and Vandalism in the Public Schools of New Jersey for the Period July 1, 1988 to June 30, 1989.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    New Jersey State Dept. of Education, Trenton.

    Incident reports of violence, vandalism, and substance abuse prepared by local school districts for the 1988-1989 school year are summarized and compared with reports from previous years (1984-1988). The data are based on summarized information received in county offices of education from school districts. The data collected for this report are…

  19. Examining the Effects of READ 180 with Sixth Grade Students in a Southwest United States School District Based on a Formative Assessment--Measures of Academic Progress--and Its Impact on Leadership Decisions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Davis, Daniel A.

    2012-01-01

    An achievement gap in reading existed in a Southwest United States school district with Hispanic, economically disadvantaged, English Language Learners (ELLs), and special education sixth grade students based on Measures of Academic Progress data. This study investigated the effectiveness of the "READ 180" reading intervention program…

  20. Excerpts from inside the Black Box School District Spending on Professional Development in Education: Lessons from Five Urban Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miles, Karen Hawley; Odden, Allan; Fermanich, Mark; Archibald, Sarah

    2005-01-01

    As districts struggle to meet the demands of standards-based reform and requirements for "highly qualified" teachers in the face of increasing fiscal constraints, professional development has the potential to be a significant part of a district's improvement strategy. To use dollars effectively, districts need to think about how to best integrate…

  1. A case study of systemic curricular reform: A forty-year history

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Laubach, Timothy Alan

    What follows is a description of the development of a particular inquiry-based elementary school science curriculum program and how its theoretical underpinnings positively influenced a school district's (K-12) science program and also impacted district- and state-wide curriculum reform initiatives. The district's science program has evolved since the inception of the inquiry-based elementary school science curriculum reform forty years ago. Therefore, a historical case study, which incorporated grounded theory methodology, was used to convey the forty-year development of a science curriculum reform effort and its systemic influences. Data for this study were collected primarily through artifacts, such as technical and non-technical documents, and supported and augmented with interviews. Fifteen people comprised the interview consortium with professional responsibilities including (a) administrative roles, such as superintendents, assistant superintendents, principals, and curriculum consultants/coordinators; (b) classroom roles, such as elementary and secondary school teachers who taught science; (c) partnership roles, such as university faculty who collaborated with those in administrative and classroom positions within the district; and (d) the co-director of SCIS who worked with the SCIS trial center director. Data were analyzed and coded using the constant comparative method. The analysis of data uncovered five categories or levels in which the curriculum reform evolved throughout its duration. These themes are Initiation, Education, Implementation, Confirmation, and Continuation. These five categories lead to several working hypotheses that supported the sustaining and continuing of a K-12 science curriculum reform effort. These components are a committed visionary; a theory base of education; forums promoting the education of the theory base components; shared-decision making; a university-school partnership; a core group of committed educators and teachers; evidences of success; national and state reform initiatives; a core group of administrators; longevity of the science program; district support (philosophical, financial, and emotional); and community support all contributed to the initiation, education, implementation, confirmation, and the continuation of the systemic curricular reform. The underlying component, or grounded theory generated by the study, that ties these experiences together is the "theory base" that concurrently evolved in the local school district and in a nearby university.

  2. District wellness policies and school-level practices in Minnesota, USA.

    PubMed

    Larson, Nicole; Davey, Cynthia; Hoffman, Pamela; Kubik, Martha Y; Nanney, Marilyn S

    2016-01-01

    To compare the strength of district wellness policies with corresponding school-level practices reported by principals and teachers. District-level wellness policy data were collected from school district websites and, if not available online, by requests made to district administrators in the autumn of 2013. The strength of district policies was scored using the Wellness School Assessment Tool. School-level data were drawn from the 2012 Minnesota School Health Profiles principal and teacher surveys and the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core Data. Generalized estimating equations which accounted for school-level demographics and the nesting of up to two schools within some districts were used to examine ten district policy items and fourteen school-level practices of relevance to nutrition standards, nutrition education and wellness promotion, and physical activity promotion. State-wide sample of 180 districts and 212 public schools in Minnesota, USA. The mean number of energy-dense, nutrient-poor snack foods and beverages available for students to purchase at school was inversely related to the strength of district wellness policies regulating vending machines and school stores (P=0·01). The proportion of schools having a joint use agreement for shared use of physical activity facilities was inversely related to the strength of district policies addressing community use of school facilities (P=0·03). No associations were found between the strength of other district policies and school-level practices. Nutrition educators and other health professionals should assist schools in periodically assessing their wellness practices to ensure compliance with district wellness policies and environments supportive of healthy behaviours.

  3. District wellness policies and school-level practices in Minnesota

    PubMed Central

    Larson, Nicole; Davey, Cynthia; Hoffman, Pamela; Kubik, Martha Y.; Nanney, Marilyn S.

    2015-01-01

    Objective To compare the strength of district wellness policies with corresponding school-level practices reported by principals and teachers. Design District-level wellness policy data was collected from school district websites and, if not available online, by requests made to district administrators in the fall of 2013. The strength of district policies was scored using the Wellness School Assessment Tool. School-level data were drawn from the 2012 Minnesota School Health Profiles principal and teacher surveys and National Center for Education Statistics Common Core Data. Generalized estimating equations which accounted for school-level demographics and the nesting of up to two schools within some districts were used to examine 10 district policy items and 14 school-level practices of relevance to nutrition standards, nutrition education and wellness promotion, and physical activity promotion. Setting/Subjects Statewide sample of 180 districts and 212 public schools in Minnesota. Results The mean number of energy-dense, nutrient-poor snack foods and beverages available for students to purchase at school was inversely related to the strength of district wellness policies regulating vending machines and school stores (p=0.01). The proportion of schools having a joint use agreement for shared use of physical activity facilities was inversely related to the strength of district policies addressing community use of school facilities (p=0.03). No associations were found between the strength of other district policies and school-level practices. Conclusions Nutrition educators and other health professionals should assist schools in periodically assessing their wellness practices to ensure compliance with district wellness policies and environments supportive of healthy behaviors. PMID:25990324

  4. The Eyes Have It

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mulholland, Jessica

    2012-01-01

    In New York's Port Washington Union Free School District, security and privacy for students, faculty, and staff coexist--thanks to security cameras with eyelids. In 2010, video cameras donated by New York-based SituCon Systems were installed in the main lobby at two of the district's seven schools. "We really haven't had the kind of incidents…

  5. Title IX Resource Guide

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Office for Civil Rights, US Department of Education, 2015

    2015-01-01

    Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities in federally funded schools at all levels. If any part of a school district or college receives any Federal funds for any purpose, all of the operations of the district or college are covered by Title IX. The essence…

  6. Developing Leadership Literacy: A University-School District Partnership

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Neufeld, Patricia J.; Purvey, Diane; Churchley, John; Handford, Victoria

    2015-01-01

    This project analyzes a long-standing school district-based leadership development program in British Columbia, Canada, and its transition to a partnership with the local university in which the students receive credit toward a graduate degree. The intent of this study was to explore the change process in leadership development from a school…

  7. Survival in a Down Economy: A Budget Reduction Process for Superintendents

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Davis, E. E.; Coffland, Jack A.

    2010-01-01

    Dramatic reductions in the dollars available for public education require a new and systemic approach to balancing school district budgets. This manual provides numerous examples of successful budget reduction strategies based on a six-step process that has demonstrated its effectiveness in small, medium, and large school districts. Supported by…

  8. School Districts' Expenditure Responses to Federal Stimulus Funds

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bourdeaux, Carolyn; Warner, Nicholas

    2015-01-01

    Between 2009 and 2011, school districts across the country received federal stimulus funds to shore up their budgets during the recession. The hope was that this support would serve as bridge funding during the recession, and that jurisdictions would then replace the federal funds as state and local tax bases grew stronger. However, the research…

  9. Taking Another Path: Community-Based Budgeting

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Malinowski, Matthew J.; Davis, Darlene G.

    2011-01-01

    Given the current economic constraints facing the country, school districts in the U.S. have been pushed to develop annual budgets through a new lens and to accept the reality that budget adoption is a complex, political process. Whether a school district is rich or poor, growing or declining in enrollment, serving a specialized population or…

  10. Application of the National Assessment of Educational Progress Philosophy in San Bernardino City Unified School District.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bonney, Lewis A.

    the steps taken by a large urban school district to develop and implement an objectives-based curriculum with criterion-referenced assessment of student progress are described. These steps include: goal setting, development of curriculum objectives, construction of assessment exercises, matrix sampling in test administration, and reporting of…

  11. The Evolution of Superintendents as Instructional Leaders: Past, Present, and Future

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cantu, Blanca S.

    2013-01-01

    This study examined the critical aspects of oversight that superintendents must employ to improve instruction. It was an analysis of superintendents as instructional leaders. In this study, we looked at four school district superintendents who have demonstrated instructionally effective school districts. The study was based on a three-year period,…

  12. STEM TIPS: Supporting the Beginning Secondary STEM Teacher

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jones, Griff; Dana, Thomas; LaFramenta, Joanne; Adams, Thomasenia Lott; Arnold, Jason Dean

    2016-01-01

    The STEM TIPS mobile-ready support platform gives institutions or school districts the ability to provide immediate and customized mentoring to teachers through multiple tiers of web-based support and resources. Using the results of a needs assessment, STEM TIPS was created and launched in partnership with 18 Florida school districts. Further…

  13. Flexibility: The Key to Cutting Energy Costs.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stern, Joanne

    This speech provides concrete ways for school districts to save on energy costs, based on the general concept of flexibility in energy systems. These methods have been successfully implemented in the Salem (Oregon) school district. The first idea is to set up a weekly, rather than annual, bidding system to increase fuel price options. This…

  14. Characteristics of School Districts That Participate in Rigorous National Educational Evaluations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stuart, Elizabeth A.; Bell, Stephen H.; Ebnesajjad, Cyrus; Olsen, Robert B.; Orr, Larry L.

    2017-01-01

    Given increasing interest in evidence-based policy, there is growing attention to how well the results from rigorous program evaluations may inform policy decisions. However, little attention has been paid to documenting the characteristics of schools or districts that participate in rigorous educational evaluations, and how they compare to…

  15. Cancellation of the Annual Facility Grant Creates More Shortfalls for School Districts. BCTF Research Report. Section V. 2009-EF-02

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    White, Margaret

    2009-01-01

    The Ministry of Education recently announced the cancellation of the Annual Facility Grant (AFG) for 2009-10, resulting in a loss of $110 million dollars in revenue to school districts. This decision comes after Boards of Education submitted their 2009-10 balanced budgets by June 30, based on expected revenues for the coming school year. Boards of…

  16. Exemplary Web-Based Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Milone, Michael

    2005-01-01

    Exemplary Web-based schools are as different as they are similar. The schools featured in this section have applied technology in unique ways to meet the needs of their students. Five examples are cited across the U.S.: Lemon Grove School District, Lemon Grove, California; Virginia Beach City Public Schools, Virginia Beach, Virginia; Carlsbad…

  17. Multilevel Design of School Effectiveness Studies in Sub-Saharan Africa

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kelcey, Ben; Shen, Zuchao

    2016-01-01

    School-based improvement programs represent a core strategy in improving education because they can leverage pre-existing social and organizational structures to promote coordinated and comprehensive change across multiple facets of schooling. School-based programs are generally designed to be implemented by intact schools/districts, frequently…

  18. Processes and Power in School Budgeting across Four Large Urban School Districts.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Goertz, Margaret E.; Hess, G. Alfred, Jr.

    1998-01-01

    Uses data from four cities (Chicago, Fort Worth, New York, and Rochester) to explore schools' budgetary and personnel discretion under school-based budgeting; how resource-allocation decisions are made; and factors influencing expenditure decisions. A school-based-budgeting process may increase stakeholder involvement and satisfaction without…

  19. What Does One Look Like? A School and Community Approach.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hoover, S.; Achilles, C. M.

    This paper describes a funded project, Families and Neighborhood Schools (FANS), which provided coordinated services for selected at-risk middle school students. The FANS project, based at Bryson Middle School in Greenville County School District, South Carolina, collaborated with the county mental health center to offer school-based mental health…

  20. Strong Agents and Weak Systems: University Support for School Level Improvement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nehring, James H.; O'Brien, Ellen J.

    2012-01-01

    This study examined individual and school level factors that advance and suppress the traits of high performing schools. Based on action plans and reflective journals of 28 school level practitioners in 14 schools across 10 school districts, researchers tracked the progress of each practitioner from participation in a university-based school…

  1. Is It Better to Be Good or Lucky? Decentralized Teacher Selection in 10 Elementary Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    DeArmond, Michael; Gross, Betheny; Goldhaber, Dan

    2010-01-01

    In this article, the authors explore how school-based hiring reforms play out among schools serving different students in different locations within a single district. In particular, they consider how the intersection of school-based capacity and local school context affect teacher selection practice and outcomes. The analysis is based on a…

  2. What Districts Can Do To Improve Instruction and Achievement in All Schools.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Togneri, Wendy

    2003-01-01

    A study of five high-poverty districts making strides in improving student achievement revealed that these districts focused on systemwide strategies including new approaches to professional development; making decisions based on data, not instinct; and redefining leadership roles. (MLF)

  3. The relationship between qualified personnel and self-reported implementation of recommended physical education practices and programs in U.S. schools.

    PubMed

    Davis, Kristen S; Burgeson, Charlene R; Brener, Nancy D; McManus, Tim; Wechsler, Howell

    2005-06-01

    The authors analyzed data from the School Health Policies and Programs Study 2000 to assess the associations between the presence of a district physical education coordinator and district-level physical education policies and practices recommended by federal government agencies and national organizations. The authors also examined the relationship between teacher qualifications and staff development related to physical education and self-reported implementation of recommended teachingpractices. District-level data were collected by self-administered mail questionnaires from a nationally representative sample of school districts. Classroom-level data were collected by computer-assisted personal interviews with teachers of randomly selected classes in elementary schools and randomly selected required physical education courses in middle/junior high and senior high schools. Nearly two thirds (62.2%) of districts had a physical education coordinator, and those were generally more likely than other districts to report having policies and practices that corresponded with national recommendations for high-quality physical education programs. More than two thirds of teachers (66.9%) met the criteria for teacher qualifications based on their education and certification. These teachers were more likely than others to report use of certain recommended physical education teaching practices. Teachers who participated in staff development also were more likely to use recommended teaching practices in their classrooms. Using a district physical education coordinator and teachers with appropriate qualifications as well as offering staff development opportunities on physical education may enhance school physical education programs.

  4. Schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminth control in Niger: cost effectiveness of school based and community distributed mass drug administration [corrected].

    PubMed

    Leslie, Jacqueline; Garba, Amadou; Oliva, Elisa Bosque; Barkire, Arouna; Tinni, Amadou Aboubacar; Djibo, Ali; Mounkaila, Idrissa; Fenwick, Alan

    2011-10-01

    In 2004 Niger established a large scale schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths control programme targeting children aged 5-14 years and adults. In two years 4.3 million treatments were delivered in 40 districts using school based and community distribution. Four districts were surveyed in 2006 to estimate the economic cost per district, per treatment and per schistosomiasis infection averted. The study compares the costs of treatment at start up and in a subsequent year, identifies the allocation of costs by activity, input and organisation, and assesses the cost of treatment. The cost of delivery provided by teachers is compared to cost of delivery by community distributers (CDD). The total economic cost of the programme including programmatic, national and local government costs and international support in four study districts, over two years, was US$ 456,718; an economic cost/treatment of $0.58. The full economic delivery cost of school based treatment in 2005/06 was $0.76, and for community distribution was $0.46. Including only the programme costs the figures are $0.47 and $0.41 respectively. Differences at sub-district are more marked. This is partly explained by the fact that a CDD treats 5.8 people for every one treated in school. The range in cost effectiveness for both direct and direct and indirect treatments is quantified and the need to develop and refine such estimates is emphasised. The relative cost effectiveness of school and community delivery differs by country according to the composition of the population treated, the numbers targeted and treated at school and in the community, the cost and frequency of training teachers and CDDs. Options analysis of technical and implementation alternatives including a financial analysis should form part of the programme design process.

  5. The PedsQL 4.0 as a school population health measure: feasibility, reliability, and validity.

    PubMed

    Varni, James W; Burwinkle, Tasha M; Seid, Michael

    2006-03-01

    The application of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) as a school population health measure may facilitate risk assessment and resource allocation, the tracking of student health at the school and district level, the identification of health disparities among schoolchildren, and the determination of health outcomes from interventions and policy decisions at the school, district, and county level. To determine the feasibility, reliability, and validity of the 23-item PedsQL 4.0 (Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory) Generic Core Scales as a school population health measure for children and adolescents. Survey conducted in 304 classes at 18 elementary schools, 4 middle schools, and 3 high schools within a large metropolitan school district. The PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales (Physical, Emotional, Social, School Functioning) were completed by 2437 children ages 8-18 and 4227 parents of children ages 5-18. The PedsQL 4.0 evidenced minimal missing responses, achieved excellent reliability for the Total Scale Score (alpha = 0.89 child, 0.92, parent report), and distinguished between healthy children and children with chronic health conditions. The PedsQL 4.0 was related to indicators of socioeconomic status (SES) at the school and district level. The PedsQL School Functioning Scale was significantly correlated with standardized achievement scores based on the Stanford 9. The results demonstrate the feasibility, reliability and validity of the PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales as a school population health measure. The implications of measuring HRQOL in schoolchildren at the school, district, and county level for identifying and ameliorating health disparities are discussed.

  6. Manage Your Cash

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Matthews, Kenneth M.

    1976-01-01

    Discusses formulas for planning school district investment and borrowing strategies based on a district's predicted cash flow and presents a sample investment/borrowing schedule developed from hypothetical cash-flow data. (JG)

  7. Minority participation in a school-based randomized clinical trial of tooth decay prevention in the United States.

    PubMed

    Nelson, Suchitra; Milgrom, Peter

    2012-01-01

    To describe the strategies-based on the social triad concept of a partnership of researchers, school personnel and community-employed to recruit low-income, minority parent/caregivers of kindergarten children into a school-based tooth decay prevention trial in the United States. The study site was an urban school district with five elementary schools. Recruitment was carried out once each year for three years. Recruitment involved strategies at the school district, school, classroom, and student-parent level. A coalition of researchers, school personnel and community individuals was established for communication and recruitment. Outreach workers from the community were hired to promote, recruit, and disseminate oral health information. Study promotion included both print materials (logos, flyers, pictorial story boards) and presentations at school and community events. The School District Superintendent and administrators approved the study, and all five school principals and kindergarten teachers participated. All children within the classrooms were eligible: the overall participation rate of was 86% (580/672). Community outreach workers actively facilitated the recruitment and participants were recruited at open house for parent-teacher meeting (37% of all participants), sending letters and consent forms home (31%), at a prearranged convenient time during drop off and pick up of the child at their respective schools (30%), curriculum nights and health fairs (2%). Utilizing the social triad concept led to success in planning and carrying out the recruitment of predominantly minority school children with high participation rates. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Minority Participation in a School-Based Randomized Clinical Trial of Tooth Decay Prevention in the United States

    PubMed Central

    Milgrom, Peter

    2011-01-01

    Purpose To describe the strategies--based on the social triad concept of a partnership of researchers, school personnel and community-- employed to recruit low-income, minority parent/caregivers of kindergarten children into a school-based tooth decay prevention trial in the United States. Methods The study site was an urban school district with five elementary schools. Recruitment was carried out once each year for three years. Recruitment involved strategies at the school district, school, classroom, and student-parent level. A coalition of researchers, school personnel and community individuals was established for communication and recruitment. Outreach workers from the community were hired to promote, recruit, and disseminate oral health information. Study promotion included both print materials (logos, flyers, pictorial story boards) and presentations at school and community events. Results The School District Superintendent and administrators approved the study, and all five school principals and kindergarten teachers participated. All children within the classrooms were eligible: the overall participation rate of was 86% (580/672). Community outreach workers actively facilitated the recruitment and participants were recruited at open house for parent-teacher meeting (37% of all participants), sending letters and consent forms home (31%), at a prearranged convenient time during drop off and pick up of the child at their respective schools (30%), curriculum nights and health fairs (2%). Conclusion Utilizing the social triad concept led to success in planning and carrying out the recruitment of predominantly minority school children with high participation rates. PMID:21986390

  9. Analysis of County School Districts in Arkansas.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Budd, Karol B.; Charlton, J.L.

    The 1948, Arkansas School District Reorganization Act was passed in an effort to reduce the 1589 small school districts to a smaller number. Those districts not consolidated would form county districts. As of the 1967-68 school year, 26 of these county districts remained. The purpose of this study was to provide information drawing attention to…

  10. Social Media Analytics in Education: What Is It, How Is It Useful, and What Does It Tell Us about How Schools Are Discussed in Social Media?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carpenter, Dick M., II; Robertson, Jenifer Walsh; Johnson, Michele E.; Blum, Scott

    2014-01-01

    This study measured the salience of, sentiment of, and topics about schools in social media. Based on a mixed-methods approach, results indicated that school districts do not appear to be discussed often or widely, but the small numbers of people who communicate about districts do so repeatedly, positively, and in concentration. Larger and…

  11. School services pattern in urban and rural areas: A comparatives study (Case study: Elementary school in Malang City and Malang Regency)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Setyono, D. A.; Cahyo, D. D.

    2017-06-01

    Availability of public facilities are important to support community needs and activities, such as educational facilities (school). Those facilities was needed to endorse the development program implementation which are conducted both of local and national government especially to boost the human resources qualities. This study aims to measures service rates of elementary school in the Malang City and Malang Regency based on supply aspect especially on availability of school unit and also configures the spatial pattern of the school services. Theses study conducted based on the disparity of facility services hypotheses especially on school service provision between urban and rural areas, which are Malang City considered as urban areas and Malang Regency as rural areas. According to the analysis results, rate of elementary school services in the Malang City defined by CGC method about 272% while in Malang the Regency are slightly higher at 319%. The pattern of school services in Malang City relatively similar between its districts, except Klojen District as the growth center of Malang City has the highest rate of services. Meanwhile in the Malang Regency has unique pattern which are high service rates located in the Kepanjen District areas as the growth center of Malang Regency and also several districts that located surrounding the Malang City areas which has impact of city developments. Another district has the lowest service rates due to physical limitations, such as those districts/villages located in the forest areas, coastal areas, or mountainous areas. It is means that students in Malang Regency can access elementary school freely as students in Malang City, they are not only can choose the school in their residential areas but also they can access school everywhere especially from their neighboring areas. It also noticed that there are significant differences of elementary school services between urban center areas and suburban or peripheral areas so that appropriate policy measures are needed to provide equal and balance of educational facilities development throughout each areas. The policy should be arranged appropriately especially in Malang Regency in accordance to the special characteristics of each areas in aims to promote adequate school services and reach all areas equally.

  12. Examining the Effectiveness of a Multi-Sensory Instructional Reading Program in One Rural Midwestern School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Waldvogel, Steven John

    2010-01-01

    Scope and method of study: The purpose of this research study was to examine the effectiveness of an (IMSE) Orton-Gillingham based multi-sensory instructional reading program when incorporated with kindergarten through first grade classroom reading instruction in one rural Midwestern school district. The IMSE supplemental reading program is…

  13. Optimizing the Efficiency of Tennessee Prekindergarten through Twelfth Grade Public Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ellerbrook, James Eric

    2016-01-01

    Previous studies that assess public school district efficiency have been restricted in practical research. Most studies base efficiency on student achievement, which can be convoluted due to the demographics of a public school district. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficiency of public education in a more meaningful way. This…

  14. Meeting the Learning Needs of Students: A Rural High-Need School District's Systemic Leadership Development Initiative

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Browne-Ferrigno, Tricia; Maynard, Brenda

    2005-01-01

    The Principals Excellence Program (PEP), a cohort-based professional development project for administrator-certified practitioners, is one of 24 projects across the United States supported by federal funds from the No Child Left Behind legislation. The three-year program is conducted through a partnership between Pike County School District, a…

  15. Pearls and Pitfalls in Evaluating a Student Assistance Program: A Five-Year Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wilburn, Sharon T.; Wilburn, Kenneth T.; Weaver, Dax M.; Bowles, Kathy

    2007-01-01

    This article presents data from a five-year evaluation-research case study of a large urban schools district's internal Student Assistance Program (SAP). The district employed specially trained and licensed school-based counselors to implement an internal SAP expanded to include tertiary prevention, and modeled after an employee assistance program…

  16. Teachers' Decisions and Basal Reader Teachers' Manuals.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Page, William D.

    Five speculations can be made about basal-series reading instruction: if it sells well, it may be bad; basal series may be based on marketing principles rather than educational principles; possession of a basal series by a school district tells llittle or nothing about the instruction in the school district that owns it; stories in basal series…

  17. Education Management and Performance after Rural Education Finance Reform: Evidence from Western China

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Mingxing; Murphy, Rachel; Tao, Ran; An, Xuehui

    2009-01-01

    Based on a survey of rural school districts in Western China, this essay explores the effects of fiscal centralisation on the relationship between local governance and school district management, most particularly on how managerial power is distributed in the rural education sector. The essay also examines some of the possible effects that changes…

  18. Beyond Staff Development: A Strategic Plan for School/Community Empowerment.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Daniel P.

    At the beginning of his tenure in 1987, the superintendent of Clear Creek School District (Colorado) found that the district had no written K-12 curriculum, no ongoing process for developing such a curriculum, and no systematic process for staff development. To provide for change based on projected student needs for the 21st century, the…

  19. The Prevalence of Effective Substance Use Prevention Curricula in the Nation's High Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ringwalt, Chris; Hanley, Sean; Vincus, Amy A.; Ennett, Susan T.; Rohrbach, Louise A.; Bowling, J. Michael

    2008-01-01

    Despite a substantial proportion of high school students who initiate substance use following middle school, the implementation of universal evidence-based prevention curricula appears to be scant. We report data collected in 2005 from 1392 school district-based drug prevention coordinators, from a national, representative study of school-based…

  20. The Impact of School-Based Decision Making: A Case Study.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Etheridge, Carol Plata; Hall, Mary Lee

    As a last resort to catalyze change in its innercity schools, Memphis City School District (Tennessee) designated seven schools as school-based decision-making (SBDM) sites in April 1989. In the same month, Memphis State University researchers were appointed official observers/researchers of SBDM implementation. Not to be confused with…

  1. Analysis of a Bi-State, Multi-District, School-based Hepatitis B Immunization Program.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wilson, Thad; Harman, Sandy

    2000-01-01

    Evaluated a school-based program designed to immunize adolescents in Kansas City, Missouri, schools against hepatitis B. Approximately 75 percent of 12,986 participating students completed the vaccine series. Larger schools reported decreased participation and completion rates. Both rates were highest in schools providing educational intervention.…

  2. The Interrelationship of School District Expenditures and Student Academic Achievement in Oklahoma Public Elementary School Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moore, Glenn M.

    2012-01-01

    Purpose and Method of Study. The primary purpose of this quantitative study was to analyze the relationship between school district expenditures and student academic achievement in 102 public elementary school districts in the state of Oklahoma. The secondary purpose was to investigate the relationship between school district expenditures and…

  3. School-Based Drug Prevention Program: Quantitative Assessment of Life Skills Training Elementary School Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kindle, Silverlene J.

    2013-01-01

    Since the 1960s long-term studies have documented nation-wide patterns of adolescent smoking, drinking and illicit drug use. The federal government responded by passing the Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Act, which funded school-based prevention programs. The problem for school counselors in a Georgia Public School District was…

  4. Leading Implementation of 21st Century Skills: Technology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blattner, David Craig

    2012-01-01

    A qualitative case study was conducted on the Mooresville Graded School Districts's (MGSD) digital conversion for the entire school district. MGSD is a semi-rural small suburban school district with 5,450 students kindergarten through twelfth grade. The school district consists of three elementary schools, two intermediate schools, one middle…

  5. Oregon School Bond Manual. Seventh Edition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oregon State Dept. of Education, Salem.

    To help school districts comply with Oregon's school bond laws, this manual provides guidelines for school district attorneys and personnel in the issuance and sale of school district bonds. The manual deals with the three primary types of Oregon school district borrowings: (1) general obligation bonds; (2) tax and revenue anticipation notes; and…

  6. Differences in Food and Beverage Marketing Policies and Practices in US School Districts, by Demographic Characteristics of School Districts, 2012

    PubMed Central

    Michael, Shannon; Brener, Nancy D.; Coffield, Edward; Kingsley, Beverly S.; Zytnick, Deena; Blanck, Heidi

    2016-01-01

    Introduction Foods and beverages marketed in schools are typically of poor nutritional value. School districts may adopt policies and practices to restrict marketing of unhealthful foods and to promote healthful choices. Students’ exposure to marketing practices differ by school demographics, but these differences have not yet been examined by district characteristics. Methods We analyzed data from the 2012 School Health Policies and Practices Study to examine how food and beverage marketing and promotion policies and practices varied by district characteristics such as metropolitan status, size, and percentage of non-Hispanic white students. Results Most practices varied significantly by district size: a higher percentage of large districts than small or medium-sized districts restricted marketing of unhealthful foods and promoted healthful options. Compared with districts whose student populations were majority (>50%) non-Hispanic white, a higher percentage of districts whose student populations were minority non-Hispanic white (≤50% non-Hispanic white) prohibited advertising of soft drinks in school buildings and on school grounds, made school meal menus available to students, and provided families with information on school nutrition programs. Compared with suburban and rural districts, a higher percentage of urban districts prohibited the sale of soft drinks on school grounds and used several practices to promote healthful options. Conclusion Preliminary findings showing significant associations between district demographics and marketing policies and practices can be used to help states direct resources, training, and technical assistance to address food and beverage marketing and promotion to districts most in need of improvement. PMID:27978408

  7. Differences in Food and Beverage Marketing Policies and Practices in US School Districts, by Demographic Characteristics of School Districts, 2012.

    PubMed

    Merlo, Caitlin L; Michael, Shannon; Brener, Nancy D; Coffield, Edward; Kingsley, Beverly S; Zytnick, Deena; Blanck, Heidi

    2016-12-15

    Foods and beverages marketed in schools are typically of poor nutritional value. School districts may adopt policies and practices to restrict marketing of unhealthful foods and to promote healthful choices. Students' exposure to marketing practices differ by school demographics, but these differences have not yet been examined by district characteristics. We analyzed data from the 2012 School Health Policies and Practices Study to examine how food and beverage marketing and promotion policies and practices varied by district characteristics such as metropolitan status, size, and percentage of non-Hispanic white students. Most practices varied significantly by district size: a higher percentage of large districts than small or medium-sized districts restricted marketing of unhealthful foods and promoted healthful options. Compared with districts whose student populations were majority (>50%) non-Hispanic white, a higher percentage of districts whose student populations were minority non-Hispanic white (≤50% non-Hispanic white) prohibited advertising of soft drinks in school buildings and on school grounds, made school meal menus available to students, and provided families with information on school nutrition programs. Compared with suburban and rural districts, a higher percentage of urban districts prohibited the sale of soft drinks on school grounds and used several practices to promote healthful options. Preliminary findings showing significant associations between district demographics and marketing policies and practices can be used to help states direct resources, training, and technical assistance to address food and beverage marketing and promotion to districts most in need of improvement.

  8. School-Based Asthma Case Finding: The Arkansas Experience

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vargas, Perla A.; Magee, James S.; Bushmiaer, Margo; Simpson, Pippa M.; Jones, Craig A.; Feild, Charles R.; Jones, Stacie M.

    2006-01-01

    This population-based case-finding study sought to determine asthma prevalence and characterize disease severity and burden among school-aged children in the Little Rock School District. Asthma cases were identified by validated algorithm and parental report of asthma diagnosis. The overall response rate was low. Among schools with greater than…

  9. Project A+: School Based Improvement in AISD, 1991-92.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Austin Independent School District, TX. Office of Research and Evaluation.

    Outcomes of Project A+, a school-based improvement (SBI) partnership developed between International Business Machines (IBM) and the Austin Independent School District, are described in this document. SBI is a vehicle for restructuring schools to meet the goal that all students will function successfully at or beyond their appropriate grade…

  10. Teacher Empowerment Depends on Needs, Expectations of Principals, Schools, Districts.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kirby, Peggy C.; And Others

    1992-01-01

    Based on 2 years' experience with 30 principals learning and applying a school-based, school-defined improvement procedure, this article discusses 3 sources of resistance to shared decision making presented in a principals' center environment: certain principals' personality characteristics, teaching staff composition in certain schools, and…

  11. Piedmont City School District: Piedmont Middle School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    EDUCAUSE, 2015

    2015-01-01

    At Piedmont Middle School, the future for students is changing through relevant, engaging learning opportunities, a school culture filled with hope, and a redesigned teaching and learning environment that utilizes blended learning, project-based learning, and competency-based learning to personalize education. The academic model is anchored by a…

  12. Reproducibility of the School-Based Nutrition Monitoring Questionnaire among Fourth-Grade Students in Texas

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Penkilo, Monica; George, Goldy Chacko; Hoelscher, Deanna M.

    2008-01-01

    Objective: To assess reproducibility of a School-Based Nutrition Monitoring (SBNM) questionnaire for fourth-grade students. Design: Test-retest. Setting: Fourth-grade elementary school classrooms. Participants: Multiethnic fourth-grade students from 2 area school districts (N = 322). Main Outcome Measures: Reproducibility coefficients with time…

  13. School violence and bullying among sexual minority high school students, 2009-2011.

    PubMed

    O'Malley Olsen, Emily; Kann, Laura; Vivolo-Kantor, Alana; Kinchen, Steve; McManus, Tim

    2014-09-01

    School-based victimization has short- and long-term implications for the health and academic lives of sexual minority students. This analysis assessed the prevalence and relative risk of school violence and bullying among sexual minority and heterosexual high school students. Youth Risk Behavior Survey data from 10 states and 10 large urban school districts that assessed sexual identity and had weighted data in the 2009 and/or 2011 cycle were combined to create two large population-based data sets, one containing state data and one containing district data. Prevalence of physical fighting, being threatened or injured with a weapon, weapon carrying, and being bullied on school property and not going to school because of safety concerns was calculated. Associations between these behaviors and sexual identity were identified. In the state data, sexual minority male students were at greater risk for being threatened or injured with a weapon, not going to school because of safety concerns and being bullied than heterosexual male students. Sexual minority female students were at greater risk than heterosexual female students for all five behaviors. In the district data, with one exception, sexual minority male and female students were at greater risk for all five behaviors than heterosexual students. Sexual minority students still routinely experience more school victimization than their heterosexual counterparts. The implementation of comprehensive, evidence-based programs and policies has the ability to reduce school violence and bullying, especially among sexual minority students. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  14. Recent Trends in Minicomputer-Based Integrated Learning Systems for Reading and Language Arts Instruction.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Balajthy, Ernest

    This paper discusses minicomputer-based ILSs (integrated learning systems), i.e., computer-based systems of hardware and software. An example of a minicomputer-based system in a school district (a composite of several actual districts) considers hardware, staffing, scheduling, reactions, problems, and training for a subskill-oriented reading…

  15. Drawing the Line: Student Reassignment Policies in South Carolina

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Simmons, Naomi Rachel

    2013-01-01

    This study investigates the complex nature of student reassignment plans developed between 2006 and 2008 in three South Carolina school districts: York School District 3, Dorchester School District 2, and Greenville School District. The study is guided by the following research question: How are the district policies for student reassignment…

  16. Systematic Research and Evaluation in a Rural Pennsylvania School District.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leopold, Greg; And Others

    This report summarizes the evaluation of a rural school district in Pennsylvania and offers recommendations reflecting the district's goals for school improvement and construction. Specifically, the objectives of the study were to identify curricular needs of the district and individual schools; review and assess district facilities with respect…

  17. School District Mergers: What One District Learned

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kingston, Kathleen

    2009-01-01

    Throughout the planning process for a school district merger in a northwestern Pennsylvania school district, effective communication proved to be a challenge. Formed in 1932, this school district of approximately 1400 students was part of a utopian community; one established by a transportation system's corporation that was a major industrial…

  18. Vocational and Career Guidance. The Key to Unlock the Future. A Model for Vocational and Career Guidance for Washington County School District. Manual for Implementation for Grades One through Twelve.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Washington County School District, St. George, UT.

    This document contains a model for vocational career education and career guidance for grades 1-12, based on a program developed in the Washington County School District (Utah). The model is based upon the premise that major educational and vocational goals have been identified over the years by many state departments of education and local school…

  19. Data-Driven Districts.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    LaFee, Scott

    2002-01-01

    Describes the use of data-driven decision-making in four school districts: Plainfield Public Schools, Plainfield, New Jersey; Palo Alto Unified School District, Palo Alto, California; Francis Howell School District in eastern Missouri, northwest of St. Louis; and Rio Rancho Public Schools, near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Includes interviews with the…

  20. Transforming School Funding: A Guide to Implementing Student-Based Budgeting (SBB)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rosenberg, David; Gordon, Jeff; Hsu, Betty

    2014-01-01

    Student-Based Budgeting (sometimes called Weighted Student Funding, or Fair Student Funding, depending on the district) differs fundamentally from the traditional funding model, which distributes resources to schools in the form of staff and dollars designated for specific purposes. Student-Based Budgeting (SBB) allocates dollars to schools based…

  1. Iowa Department of Education Guidelines for PK-12 Competency-Based Pathways

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Iowa Department of Education, 2013

    2013-01-01

    This document provides guidelines for developing competency-based pathways in Iowa districts and schools and outlines waiver requirements and procedures. Competency-based pathways provide ways to validate learning of standards that occurs outside the structure of the traditional school and offer flexibility for schools to engage students in…

  2. School District Wellness Policy Quality and Weight-Related Outcomes among High School Students in Minnesota

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hoffman, Pamela K.; Davey, Cynthia S.; Larson, Nicole; Grannon, Katherine Y.; Hanson, Carlie; Nanney, Marilyn S.

    2016-01-01

    Weight-related outcomes were examined among high school students in Minnesota public school districts according to the quality of district wellness policies. Wellness policy strength and comprehensiveness were scored using the Wellness School Assessment Tool (WellSAT) for 325 Minnesota public school districts in 2013. The associations between…

  3. Suicide Prevention for School Communities: An Educational Initiative for Student Safety.

    PubMed

    Roberts, Diane Cody; Taylor, Mary Ellen; Pyle, Audrey D'Ann

    2018-05-01

    A knowledge gap exists in school communities regarding suicide prevention and means reduction education. The article highlights two core interrelated topics: school nurse engagement in dialogue with students' families and the implementation of an innovative, community-based suicide prevention educational program at a suburban public school district. The authors provide an overview of the public health problem of suicide for students, current student challenges, role of the school nurse in suicide prevention, and a key gap in current school nursing practice. At the request of the school counselors and principal, an innovative suicide prevention educational program was initiated as a community-based project at a large suburban public school district in Texas. The two overarching goals for this community-based collaboration are the following: school nurses will engage in frank, productive conversations with students' parents and families about suicidality concerns and increase the school community's knowledge about suicide prevention. This school community knowledge includes effective risk mitigation and means reduction strategies to better manage suicidality in students. Ultimately, this ongoing family and school community collaboration aims to prevent student deaths by suicide.

  4. The Healthy Class of 2010: Utilization of the School Health Index to Build Collaboration Between a University and an Urban School District

    PubMed Central

    Fryer, Craig S.; Reed, Ernestine A.; Thomas, Stephen B.

    2014-01-01

    BACKGROUND Insufficient attention has been paid to the process of conducting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s School Health Index (SHI) to promote collaboration between universities and urban school districts when developing adolescent health promotion initiatives. This article provides an overview of the real world contextual challenges and opportunities this type of collaboration can pose. METHODS The SHI and selected collaboration principles were used to facilitate partnership and increase stakeholder buy-in, which led to developing and implementing an eight year health promotion campaign, The Healthy Class of 2010 (HC 2010). RESULTS The focus on planning brought together key stakeholders and allowed for HC 2010 programming to take place despite the competing demands on the schools. The SHI allowed for input from stakeholders to develop campaign activities and inform school- and district-wide policy. Universities and school districts desiring to develop and implement school-based, adolescent health promotion programs should: 1) identify the hierarchical structure of the school district; 2) establish credibility for the program and the university staff; 3) emphasize the benefits to all partners; 4) maintain a cooperative partnership with teachers and administrators; 5) appreciate the need for planning; and, 6) provide as many resources as possible to on an already overburdened school system. CONCLUSIONS Promoting healthy behaviors among students is an important part of the fundamental mission of schools. HC 2010 underscored the significance of collaboration using the SHI in the development and implementation of this health promotion campaign with input from students, teachers, administrators and university partners. PMID:22070509

  5. Site-Based Budgeting in Fort Worth, Texas.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peternick, Lauri; Sherman, Joel

    1998-01-01

    Examines the Fort Worth Independent School District's decentralized decision-making system through three lenses: a review of site-based decision-making procedures at several schools; an examination of who participates; and stakeholders' perceptions. Some schools operated democratically, significantly including teachers, parents, and community…

  6. Effects of the Positive Action program on achievement and discipline: two matched-control comparisons.

    PubMed

    Flay, B R; Allred, C G; Ordway, N

    2001-06-01

    This paper reports on the effectiveness of an integrated comprehensive school model for character development, problem behavior prevention, and academic achievement enhancement. The Positive Action program consists of a school curriculum, together with schoolwide climate, family, and community components. As evaluated here, the yearly K-6 curriculum consists of over 140 fifteen-to-twenty-minute lessons per year delivered in school classrooms on an almost daily basis. The program is based on theories of self-concept, learning, behavior, and school ecology. We use a matched control design and school-level achievement and disciplinary data to evaluate program effects on student performance and behavior in two separate school districts. The program improved achievement by 16% in one district and 52% in another, and reduced disciplinary referrals by 78% in one district and 85% in the other. We discuss implications of these replicated findings for the prevention of substance abuse and violence, the improvement of school performance, and the reform of American schools.

  7. An Analysis of Florida's School Districts' Attendance Policies and their Relationship to High School Attendance Rates

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reardon, Ryan Turner

    2008-01-01

    The purpose of this non-experimental correlational study was to determine the relationship between the type of attendance policies in the high schools of the 67 Florida school districts, the size of the school district (number of high school students), the socioeconomic status SES) of the school district, and the average daily attendance rate of…

  8. School Leaders' Perceptions of School Counselors as Leaders as Part of the District Leadership Team and Impact on the District Wide Change Process

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Davis, James S., Jr.

    2013-01-01

    This exploration focuses on school leaders' perceptions of school counselors as leaders and their involvement with district wide change. This study explores school counselor leadership, school counselors' role in district level change, and barriers to school counselor leadership. This is a qualitative study utilizing grounded theory design.…

  9. Evidence, Interpretation, and Persuasion: Instructional Decision Making at the District Central Office

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coburn, Cynthia E.; Toure, Judith; Yamashita, Mika

    2009-01-01

    Background/Context: Calls for evidence-based decision making have become increasingly prominent on the educational landscape. School district central offices increasingly experience these demands. Yet there are few empirical studies of evidence use at the district level. Furthermore, research on evidence use among policy makers in noneducation…

  10. Assessing District Support for Leadership Development: Asking the Right Questions.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Snow-Renner, Ravay

    This document provides guiding questions and a process for school district personnel to assess the district's organizational capacity for supporting strong educational leaders in a standards-based system. These questions reflect the most recent research literature about leadership and its optimal organizational supports in high-performing school…

  11. The Effect of a Zoo-Based Experiential Academic Science Program on High School Students' Math and Science Achievement and Perceptions of School Climate

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mulkerrin, Elizabeth A.

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of an 11th-grade and 12th-grade zoo-based academic high school experiential science program compared to a same school-district school-based academic high school experiential science program on students' pretest and posttest science, math, and reading achievement, and student perceptions of…

  12. A Research Report of Small/Rural School Districts in New Mexico Compared to School Districts of Similiar Size Nationwide.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barker, Bruce O.; Muse, Ivan D.

    A 1982-83 survey produced data used to compare 17 small/rural K-12 New Mexico school districts (900 students or fewer) with 642 similar districts nationwide. Of New Mexico's 88 school districts, 43 were identified as qualifying (48.9%, enrolling 16,648 students), for comparison to 4,125 similar districts nationwide. A questionnaire mailed to…

  13. One Approach to Increasing Revenues for Your School District. (A Small School District's Successful Struggle).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dombrowski, Richard J.

    In 1983, Channahon School District 17 in Illinois was $1.3 million in debt. Real estate taxes constituted the school district's chief source of revenue, but because the state's oil industry kept its assessed valuations below the actual value of its property through the use of experts and lawyers, the school district was denied much of its income.…

  14. Achieving Competitive Advantage in Human Resource Management in General School District of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Al dakeel, Taghreed M.; Almannie, Mohamed A.

    2015-01-01

    The general school district of Riyadh is one of largest in the country of (45) school districts in Saudi Arabia. The school districts play an important roles in the development of education, therefore the objective of the study is to examine the roles of the management in the school districts to see if it is achieving competitive advantage. After…

  15. State and district policy influences on district-wide elementary and middle school physical education practices.

    PubMed

    Chriqui, Jamie F; Eyler, Amy; Carnoske, Cheryl; Slater, Sandy

    2013-01-01

    To examine the influence of state laws and district policies on district-wide elementary school and middle school practices related to physical education (PE) time and the percentage of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) time during PE. Multivariate, cross-sectional analysis of state laws, district wellness and PE policies, and district PE practices for school year 2010-2011 controlling for district-level urbanicity, region, size, race/ethnicity of students, and socioeconomic status and clustered on state. One hundred ninety-five public school districts located in 42 states. District-level PE coordinators for the included districts who responded to an online survey. Minutes and days of PE per week and percent time spent in MVPA during PE time. District PE coordinators reported significantly less PE time than national standards-82.9 and 189.6 minutes at the elementary school and middle school levels, respectively. Physical education was provided an average of 2.5 and 3.7 days per week, respectively; and the percentage of MVPA time in PE was 64.4% and 65.7%, respectively. At the elementary school level, districts in either states with laws governing PE time or in a state and district with a law/policy reported significantly more days of PE (0.63 and 0.67 additional days, respectively), and districts in states with PE time laws reported 18 more minutes of PE per week. At the middle school level, state laws were associated with 0.73 more days of PE per week. Neither state laws nor district policies were positively associated with percent MVPA time in PE. State laws and district policies can influence district-level PE practices-particularly those governing the frequency and duration of PE-although opportunities exist to strengthen PE-related laws, policies, and practices.

  16. Technology Finds Its Place in Silicon Valley Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hundley, Paula; Scigliano, Marie

    2012-01-01

    Technology today is poised to usher in the best of times. Exploring what other districts do highlights the common themes as well as the unique challenges. Three very different districts in Silicon Valley--Portola Valley School District, Campbell Union School District and San Jose Unified School District--explain the strategies they use to enhance…

  17. Small Districts in Big Trouble: How Four Arizona School Systems Responded to Charter Competition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hess, Frederick; Maranto, Robert; Milliman, Scott

    2001-01-01

    Examined the responses to charter school competition of four small Arizona school districts. Overall, districts lost students to charter schools because they did not satisfy significant constituencies. Their responses depended on overall enrollment trends, quality of charter competition, quality of district leadership, and district size. Responses…

  18. Beyond the School Yard: Pre-K Collaborations with Community-Based Partners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wat, Albert; Gayl, Chrisanne

    2009-01-01

    Support for publicly funded pre-kindergarten has increased tremendously in recent years as parents, educators and policy makers have come to recognize the many benefits of high-quality early education. As of 2008, 38 states and the District of Columbia invest in pre-k programs, and many school districts are doing so on their own with local and…

  19. ESEA Title I. Anatomy of an Elementary Project.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martin, Peter A.

    School districts in New York State have been engaged in developing E.S.E.A. Title I projects since 1965. This document represents an attempt to formulate some aspects of this experience in a form useful for project directors. The content of this report is based on the recorded experiences of one school district during the summer of 1970 in running…

  20. The Relationship between Teacher-Related Factors and Students' Attitudes towards Secondary School Chemistry Subject in Bureti District, Kenya

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chepkorir, Salome; Cheptonui, Edna Marusoi; Chemutai, Agnes

    2014-01-01

    This paper examines the relationship between teacher-related factors and student's attitudes towards Chemistry subject in secondary schools in Kenya. The paper is based on a study conducted in Bureti District in Kericho County, Kenya. This paper highlights issues on the teaching methods used by chemistry teachers, the teachers' availability to…

  1. An Evaluation of "Bookworms": A Tiered Approach to K-5 Literacy and Its Effect on Reading Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nacrelli, Cathy S.

    2018-01-01

    There is no debate that teaching students to read is an important goal of education. School districts have the challenging tasks of choosing an effective research-based reading program to implement and then ensuring that reading instruction results in improved reading achievement. The Spring Valley School District was faced with these challenges…

  2. Equity Implications of Methods of Funding State Teachers' Retirement Systems. Working Paper in Education Finance No. 30.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wendling, Wayne

    Current methods of funding teachers' retirement systems, which base pensions on final salaries, are inequitable because they are not related to school districts' ability to pay and because they require some teachers to subsidize others. A five-state survey shows it is common for pensions to be funded by school districts and teachers, sometimes…

  3. Comparative Effectiveness of Carnegie Learning's "Cognitive Tutor"[R] Algebra I Curriculum: A Report of a Randomized Experiment in the Maui School District. Research Summary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Empirical Education Inc., 2007

    2007-01-01

    The Maui Hawaii Educational consortium (the Maui School District and Maui Community College) sought scientifically based evidence for the effectiveness of the "Cognitive Tutor" ("CT") Algebra I Curriculum to inform adoption decisions. Decision makers were particularly interested in whether the use of the "CT" program…

  4. Comparative Effectiveness of Carnegie Learning's "Cognitive Tutor" Algebra I Curriculum: A Report of a Randomized Experiment in the Maui School District. Research Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cabalo, Jessica Villaruz; Vu, Minh-Thien

    2007-01-01

    The Maui Hawaii Educational consortium (the Maui School District and Maui Community College) sought scientifically based evidence for the effectiveness of the "Cognitive Tutor (CT) Algebra I Curriculum" to inform adoption decisions. Decision makers were particularly interested in whether the use of the "CT" program affects…

  5. Effective Practices to Support Year-Long Student Teachers by Cooperating Teachers and the School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Olson, Heather

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of the study was to determine what student teachers perceive as an effective practice used by their cooperating teacher and school district to enhance the success of the year-long student teaching experience. In addition, the study intended to determine the differences in what student teachers perceive as effective practice based on…

  6. The Role of School and Community-Based Programs in Aiding Latina/o High School Persistence

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harris, Donna M.; Kiyama, Judy Marquez

    2015-01-01

    This study documents the important role school and community-based programs have for sustaining the persistence of Latina/o high school students in an urban, low achieving school district. Consensus among student participants revealed these programs provided a safe space where students were able to develop "confianza" (mutual trust) with…

  7. Accuracy of Principal and Teacher Knowledge of School District Policies on Sun Protection in California Elementary Schools

    PubMed Central

    Reynolds, Kim D.; Berteletti, Julia; Massie, Kim; Ashley, Jeff; Buller, Mary Klein; Meenan, Richard T.

    2018-01-01

    Introduction Policy is a key aspect of school-based efforts to prevent skin cancer. We explored the extent and accuracy of knowledge among principals and teachers in California public school districts about the elements specified in their district’s written sun safety policy. Methods The sample consisted of California public school districts that subscribed to the California School Boards Association, had an elementary school, adopted Board Policy 5141.7 for sun safety, and posted it online. The content of each policy was coded. Principals (n = 118) and teachers (n = 113) in elementary schools were recruited from September 2013 through December 2015 and completed a survey on sun protection policies and practices from January 2014 through April 2016. Results Only 38 of 117 principals (32.5%) were aware that their school district had a sun protection policy. A smaller percentage of teachers (13 of 109; 11.9%) than principals were aware of the policy (F 108 = 12.76, P < .001). We found greater awareness of the policy among principals and teachers who had more years of experience working in public education (odds ratio [OR] = 1.05, F 106 = 4.71, P = .03) and worked in schools with more non-Hispanic white students (OR = 7.65, F 109 = 8.61, P = .004) and fewer Hispanic students (OR = 0.28, F 109 = 4.27, P = .04). Conclusion Policy adoption is an important step in implementing sun safety practices in schools, but districts may need more effective means of informing school principals and teachers of sun safety policies. Implementation will lag without clear understanding of the policy’s content by school personnel. PMID:29346065

  8. School District Income Taxes and School Inputs: The Case of Ohio

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nguyen-Hoang, Phuong

    2014-01-01

    This study is the first to explore the relationship between school district income taxes and school inputs (expenditures and student-teacher ratios) using Ohio as a case study. The study employed reduced-form expenditure functions on a data panel of 609 school districts between 1990 and 2010. Treating for the endogeneity of school district income…

  9. Creating Working Partnerships: How Can School Districts and Charter Schools Work Together Effectively? Knowledge Brief.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Izu, JoAnn

    Drawing on the Los Angeles Unified School District's experiences with charter schools, this brief highlights the difficulties in balancing the twin needs of charter-school autonomy and accountability, and their implications for the way in which charter schools and districts can work together. It identifies key challenges in district-school…

  10. A Correlational Study of Teacher Efficacy and Culturally Responsive Teaching Techniques in a Southeastern Urban School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Callaway, Roberta F.

    2017-01-01

    This study was conducted in the fall of 2015 in a large, urban school district located in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. There are 33 elementary schools, one kindergarten through eighth grade school, eight middle schools, and five high schools in the district; three of the five high schools in the district participated. The district…

  11. Implications of Income-Based School Assignment Policies for Racial School Segregation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reardon, Sean F.; Yun, John T.; Kurlaender, Michal

    2006-01-01

    A number of public school districts in the United States have adopted income-based integration policies--policies that use measures of family income or socioeconomic status--in determining school assignment. Some scholars and policymakers contend that such policies will also reduce racial segregation. In this article this assumption is explored by…

  12. A Longitudinal Investigation of Project-Based Instruction and Student Achievement in High School Social Studies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Summers, Emily J.; Dickinson, Gail

    2012-01-01

    This longitudinal study focused on how project-based instruction (PBI) influenced secondary social studies students' academic achievement and promoted College and Career Readiness (CCR). We explored and compared student achievement in a PBI high school versus a traditional instruction high school within the same rural school district. While…

  13. Cloud Coaching: Web-Based Learning Holds Promise, Especially for Districts with Limited Resources

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Matsumura, Lindsay Clare; Bickel, Donna DiPrima; Zook-Howell, Dena; Correnti, Richard; Walsh, Marguerite

    2016-01-01

    Web-based coaching shows significant promise for linking teachers to highly expert practitioners. This is particularly important in districts that cannot afford to hire full-time school-based coaches or to train and support coaches to be experts in all content areas. While web-based teacher professional development shows a great deal of potential…

  14. Reforming Districts: How Districts Support School Reform. A Research Report. Document R-03-6

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McLaughlin, Milbrey; Talbert, Joan

    2003-01-01

    School districts have participated in multiple rounds of education reform activity in the past few decades, yet few have made headway on system-wide school improvement. This paper addresses the questions of whether districts matter for school reform progress and what successful "reforming" districts do to achieve system change and to…

  15. Equity for Rural School Districts: The Final Report of the Countryside Council's School Finance Task Force.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wiener, Steve

    Soaring values of agricultural land have created inequities in funding between urban and rural school districts in Minnesota. The state's Foundation Aid to school districts is formulated so that districts of high property valuation receive less Foundation Aid than those districts with low property valuation. In recent years inflation has had…

  16. State-Level Guidance and District-Level Policies and Practices for Food Marketing in US School Districts.

    PubMed

    Merlo, Caitlin L; Michael, Shannon; Brener, Nancy D; Blanck, Heidi

    2018-06-07

    State agencies play a critical role in providing school districts with guidance and technical assistance on school nutrition issues, including food and beverage marketing practices. We examined associations between state-level guidance and the policies and practices in school districts regarding food and beverage marketing and promotion. State policy guidance was positively associated with districts prohibiting advertisements for junk food or fast food restaurants on school property. Technical assistance from states was negatively associated with 2 district practices to restrict marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages, but positively associated with 1 practice to promote healthy options. These findings may help inform the guidance that states provide to school districts and help identify which districts may need additional assistance to address marketing and promotion practices.

  17. Charter Schools and Urban Education Improvement: A Comparison of Newark's District and Charter Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barr, Jason M.; Sadovnik, Alan R.; Visconti, Louisa

    2006-01-01

    This article compares student achievement of fourth graders in charter schools and district public schools in Newark, New Jersey. We find that Newark and New Jersey's charter schools mirror the educational inequalities of the state as a whole, as well as its Abbott Districts. The data indicate that charter schools are similar to district urban…

  18. An Analysis of Local Education Foundations as Alternative Revenue Streams for Public School Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Busch, Douglas M.

    2012-01-01

    As school district revenues are reduced by state allocating agencies, local school district administrators and school boards frequently evaluate alternative sources of possible revenue. One emerging source of revenue that many school districts explore is a local education foundation. Local education foundations are 501(c)(3) nonprofit…

  19. No One Way: Differentiating School District Leadership and Support for School Improvement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anderson, Stephen E.; Mascall, Blair; Stiegelbauer, Suzanne; Park, Jaddon

    2012-01-01

    This article examines findings from a qualitative investigation of how school district administrators in four mid to large sized urban school districts (10,000-50,000) identify and address differences in school performance. The analysis explores the interaction between district policies and actions that centralize and standardize expectations for…

  20. Abbott Students Attending Charter Schools: Funding Disparities and Legal Implications

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bulkley, Katrina

    2007-01-01

    Most of New Jersey's charter schools are located in the state's poorer, urban school districts, or "Abbott" districts, and exclusively serve students from those communities. A number of other schools are located outside of the Abbott districts but enroll students from these districts. Specifically, of the 50 charter schools operating in…

  1. Michigan School Privatization Survey 2009

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hohman, James M.; Imhoff, Eric R.

    2009-01-01

    With Michigan's public school districts facing a decline in per-pupil funding, more districts are contracting out for at least one of the three major school support services--food, custodial and transportation--than ever before. This year's survey of school districts found that 44.6 percent of all Michigan school districts contract out for at…

  2. Culture: The Missing Link to Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cross, Nathan; Howard, Kathleen; Pearson, Carl

    2013-01-01

    A high functioning school and district culture is an essential underpinning to all improvement efforts. Yet school and district culture can be difficult to assess. Culture is the cornerstone of all good districts and schools. It is the foundation for all school improvement efforts. As one looks deeper into the culture of a school or district, one…

  3. School-Based Instructional Rounds: Improving Teaching and Learning across Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Teitel, Lee

    2013-01-01

    In "School-Based Instructional Rounds," Teitel offers detailed case studies of five different models of school-based rounds and investigates critical learning from each. Instructional rounds--one of the most innovative and powerful approaches to improving teaching and learning--has been taken up by districts across the country and around…

  4. Will the 'principles of effectiveness' improve prevention practice? Early findings from a diffusion study.

    PubMed

    Hallfors, D; Godette, D

    2002-08-01

    This study examines adoption and implementation of the US Department of Education's new policy, the 'Principles of Effectiveness', from a diffusion of innovations theoretical framework. In this report, we evaluate adoption in relation to Principle 3: the requirement to select research-based programs. Results from a sample of 104 school districts in 12 states indicate that many districts appear to be selecting research-based curricula, but that the quality of implementation is low. Only 19% of the responding district coordinators indicated that schools were implementing a research-based curriculum with fidelity. Common problems included lack of teacher training, lack of requisite materials, use of some but not all of the required lessons and teaching strategies, and failure to deliver lessons to age-appropriate student groups. This study represents the first attempt to assess the quality of implementation of research-based programs as required by the Principles of Effectiveness. We conclude that low levels of funding, inadequate infrastructure, decentralized decision making and lack of program guidance have contributed to the slow progress in improving school-based prevention.

  5. Characteristics of Public School Districts in the United States: Results from the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey. First Look. NCES 2013-311

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gray, Lucinda; Bitterman, Amy; Goldring, Rebecca

    2013-01-01

    This report presents selected findings from the Public School District Data File of the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). SASS is a nationally representative sample survey of public and private K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. School districts associated with public schools and library…

  6. School Bond Referenda Reloaded: An Examination of a School District in Passing a Subsequent Bond Referendum after Failing to Pass Previous Bond Referenda

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Benzaquen, Eitan Yacov

    2016-01-01

    In April 2008, the Wisconsin Erie School District attempted and failed to pass a school bond referendum to renovate its high school. In November 2008, again the school district did not pass a referendum. Interestingly, in the 2009-2010 school year, the district was successful in passing a bond referendum. Although the original bond measure called…

  7. 100 Years of Change for Better Schools: A Short Report of Buffalo Township, Winnebago County, Iowa and Its Schools from 1895 to 1995.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dreier, William H.; Pilgrim, Ronald

    In Winnebago County, Iowa, the earliest school district was the township, organized with ungraded one-room schools. The town of Buffalo Center worked with its township school district to become, in 1895, a town independent school district with its service area being the township. In 1896 the new district offered graded elementary and high schools.…

  8. An Innovative Method of Measuring Changes in Access to Healthful Foods in School Lunch Programs: Findings from a Pilot Evaluation

    PubMed Central

    Hawkes, Allison P.; Weinberg, Stacy L.; Janusz, Ruth; Demont-Heinrich, Christine; Vogt, Richard L.

    2016-01-01

    Introduction A large local health department in Colorado partnered with 15 school districts to develop an approach to evaluate changes in access to healthy foods in reimbursable school lunches and a la carte offerings. Materials and Methods School district nutrition managers were engaged at the start of this project. Health department dietitians developed criteria to classify food items as “Lower Fat and less added Sugar” (LFS) and “Higher Fat and more added Sugar” (HFS) based on the percentage of calories from fat and grams of added sugar. Lunch production sheets were obtained for two time periods, food items and the number of planned servings recorded. LFS and HFS planned servings were summed for each time period, and a LFS to HFS ratio calculated by dividing LFS planned servings by HFS planned servings. Additional analyses included calculating LFS: HFS ratios by school district, and for a la carte offerings. Results In 2009, the LFS: HFS ratio was 2.08, in 2011, 3.71 (P<0.0001). The method also detected changes in ratios at the school district level. For a la carte items, in 2009 the ratio of LFS: HFS was 0.53, and in 2011, 0.61 (not statistically significant). Conclusions This method detected an increase in the LFS: HFS ratio over time and demonstrated that the school districts improved access to healthful food/drink by changing the contents of reimbursable school lunches. The evaluation method discussed here can generate information that districts can use in helping sustain and expand their efforts to create healthier environments for children and adults. Although federal regulations now cover all food and beverages served during the school day, there are still opportunities to improve and measure changes in food served in other settings such as child care centers, youth correction facilities, or in schools not participating in the National School Lunch Program. PMID:26800523

  9. Elementary and Secondary Civil Rights Survey, 1984. District Summary Volumes 1 and 2.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    DBS Corp., Arlington, VA.

    This 1984 survey was conducted to obtain data on the characteristics of public school students in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The 3,510 school districts selected to participate were statistically sampled from approximately 16,000 U.S. school districts, and the schools within the selected districts were subsampled: (1) all special…

  10. Leading in Reading: Nebraska District Nets Success with Evidence-Based Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mueller, Melanie; Hanson, Ron

    2014-01-01

    Mueller and Hanson report on a continuous improvement process taking place in the Papillion-La Vista School District in Papillion, Nebraska, where a proactive stance to improved learning for all students focuses directly on the human element as the change agent. The district has implemented a systemic and systematic continuous improvement process…

  11. An Evaluation of the Wake County Public School System Alternative Educational Options, 2009-10. E&R Report No. 10.15

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rhea, Anisa

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to evaluate the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) alternative educational options. The WCPSS options are similar to those in other North Carolina districts. WCPSS student outcomes based on state assessments and federal standards are also equivalent or higher than other districts, although the capacity for WCPSS…

  12. Competition for Students in a Local School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chisesi, Lawrence J.

    2015-01-01

    I study how competition played out between elementary schools in a Colorado school district. When the school board approved new schools without catchments, schools faced with declining catchment populations responded. Some schools adapted by altering programming away from the standard district curriculum. I model a school's success in recruiting…

  13. Using Evidence to Create Next Generation High Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, US Department of Education, 2016

    2016-01-01

    Next Generation High Schools are schools that redesign the high school experience to make it more engaging and worthwhile for high school students. In order to create such Next Generation High Schools, schools, districts, and States should utilize evidence-based strategies to transform high schools in ways that engage students and help prepare…

  14. Blue Valley School District: Kansas District Extends Growth Measurement to the Early Grades, Experiences Measurable Impact

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Northwest Evaluation Association, 2016

    2016-01-01

    Blue Valley, the fourth largest school district in Kansas, covers 91 square miles. More than 20,000 K-12 students attend its 34 schools ( five high schools, nine middle schools, and 20 elementary schools). Of the district's students, 8% qualify for free and reduced lunch and about 3% are English Language Learners. Blue Valley began using Measures…

  15. Challenge and Opportunity: The Impact of Charter Schools on School Districts. A Report of the National Study of Charter Schools.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ericson, John; Silverman, Debra; Berman, Paul; Nelson, Beryl; Solomon, Debra

    This report examines the operational and educational changes that school administrators attribute to charter schools. It is part of the U.S. Department of Education's 4-year study to document and analyze the charter-school movement. The study asked two questions: What changes have districts made in district operations and district education that…

  16. Elementary and Secondary Schools Civil Rights Survey, 1984. State Summaries.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    DBS Corp., Arlington, VA.

    This 1984 survey was conducted to obtain data on the characteristics of public school students in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The 3,510 school districts selected to participate were statistically sampled from approximately 16,000 U.S. school districts, and the schools within the selected districts were subsampled: (1) all special…

  17. The Condition of Rural Education in Kentucky: A Profile.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coe, Pam; And Others

    In Kentucky, 105 of 178 school districts, or 59%, are classified as rural. State law and administrative regulations presume that most school districts are both rural and isolated. The environment for rural schools in the state is heavily influenced by the fact that the majority of school districts are rural. Each school district must have a…

  18. A Political Analysis of Community Influence over School Closure

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Finnigan, Kara S.; Lavner, Mark

    2012-01-01

    This study seeks to understand community member participation in and influence over an urban school district's school closure process. Data from interviews with School Board members, district administrators, and community members, as well as district documents and newspaper articles suggest that district administrators limited participation…

  19. Are characteristics of the school district associated with active transportation to school in Danish adolescents?

    PubMed

    Stock, Christiane; Bloomfield, Kim; Ejstrud, Bo; Vinther-Larsen, Mathilde; Meijer, Mathias; Grønbæk, Morten; Grittner, Ulrike

    2012-06-01

    This study sought to determine the influence of individual factors on active transportation to school among Danish seventh graders and whether school district factors are associated with such behaviour independently of individual factors. Mixed effects logistic regression models determined the effects of individual (gender, family affluence, enjoyment of school and academic performance) and school district factors (educational level, household savings, land use and size) on active transportation to school (by foot, bicycle or other active means) among 10 380 pupils aged 13-15 years nested in 407 school districts. Of all students, 64.4% used active transportation to school daily. Boys, those with perceived higher school performance and those with lower family affluence were more likely to use active transportation to school. After adjustment for all individual factors listed above, high household savings at the school district level was associated with higher odds of active transportation to school. As factors of land use, low level of farming land use and high proportion of single houses were associated with active transportation to school. Policies aiming at reducing social inequalities at the school district level may enhance active transportation to school. School districts with farming land use face barriers for active transportation to school, requiring special policy attention.

  20. Ed-Excel Assessment of Secondary School Student Culture Tabulations by School District and Race/Ethnicity: Responses from Middle School, Junior High and High School Students in Districts of the Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN), 2000-2001.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ferguson, Ronald F.

    This survey presents statistics on secondary school student culture by school district and race/ethnicity, using data from approximately forty thousand secondary school students in Minority Student Achievement Network districts. Information is presented in six areas: (1) "Family Background Resources and Living Arrangements (racial/ethnic…

  1. Geology at Our Doorstep: Building a Partnership for Standards-Based Curriculum and Professional Development in Middle School Earth Science

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Laursen, S.; Lester, A.; Cannon, E.; Forrest, A.; Bencivengo, B.; Hunter, K.

    2003-12-01

    Geology at Our Doorstep is a collaboration between a science outreach program (CIRES Outreach), students and faculty in a university geology department (U. Colorado at Boulder), and a local school district (St. Vrain Valley) to develop locally relevant geology classroom resources for use by the district's middle-school teachers. The project grew out of direct conversations with teachers about their ideas and needs and was explicitly based on district and state standards in Earth science and scientific thinking, drawing on close work with the district on standards implementation and assessment over the past two years. We intended to draw on existing curriculum resources and substitute local geologic examples to construct a "place-based" teaching resource. However, we found that generic, national-level curricula did not effectively match the rich geologic resources of our area, and instead developed a rather more substantial set of original materials, including classroom collections of regional rocks, reference materials on local geology, classroom activities, and media resources, all shared with teachers at a series of professional development workshops. While the original project was small in scale, a number of spin-off projects have evolved. This project models several important features in the development of university-K12 partnerships: consultation with districts, piloting of small projects, and the role of outreach programs in facilitating participation of university faculty and students.

  2. Ten Schools and School Districts to Get Excited About

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Doblar, D. Douglas

    2009-01-01

    Calls for schools to "improve" are everywhere, but recently calls for schools to "transform" have proliferated, based on the idea that schools are not simply underperforming but outdated if not obsolete. Most prominently, scholars and authors such as Phillip Schlechty, Peter Senge, and Francis Duffy have targeted school and…

  3. School Leadership and Technology Challenges: Lessons from a New American High School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peck, Craig; Mullen, Carol A.; Lashley, Carl; Eldridge, John A.

    2011-01-01

    In this evidence-based practice article the authors investigate the challenges that leaders (administrators, staff, and teachers) face in high schools where personnel navigate technology reform. We studied an American comprehensive high school within a large school district in southeastern United States. School administrators and teachers faced…

  4. Response of School Districts to the New York State Concussion Awareness and Management Act: Review of Policies and Procedures.

    PubMed

    Kajankova, Maria; Oswald, Jennifer M; Terranova, Lauren M; Kaplen, Michael V; Ambrose, Anne F; Spielman, Lisa A; Gordon, Wayne A

    2017-06-01

    By 2014, all states implemented concussion laws that schools must translate into daily practice; yet, limited knowledge exists regarding implementation of these laws. We examined the extent to which concussion management policies and procedure (P&P) documents of New York State school districts comply with the State's Concussion Awareness and Management Act (the Act). We also aimed to identify barriers to compliance. Forty-seven school districts provided P&P documents. We examined compliance with the Act and the relationship between compliance and each district's demographics. Compliance varied across school districts, with higher overall compliance in large city school districts compared to county districts. However, there was low compliance for several critical items. We found no statistically significant relationship between compliance and demographics. School districts need to increase compliance with concussion legislation to ensure the adequate implementation necessary for the law to impact health and educational outcomes. The results provide important information to individuals charged with the responsibility of implementation and ultimately reducing the negative outcomes associated with brain injuries in schools. © 2017, American School Health Association.

  5. Schistosomiais and Soil-Transmitted Helminth Control in Niger: Cost Effectiveness of School Based and Community Distributed Mass Drug Administration

    PubMed Central

    Leslie, Jacqueline; Garba, Amadou; Oliva, Elisa Bosque; Barkire, Arouna; Tinni, Amadou Aboubacar; Djibo, Ali; Mounkaila, Idrissa; Fenwick, Alan

    2011-01-01

    Background In 2004 Niger established a large scale schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths control programme targeting children aged 5–14 years and adults. In two years 4.3 million treatments were delivered in 40 districts using school based and community distribution. Method and Findings Four districts were surveyed in 2006 to estimate the economic cost per district, per treatment and per schistosomiasis infection averted. The study compares the costs of treatment at start up and in a subsequent year, identifies the allocation of costs by activity, input and organisation, and assesses the cost of treatment. The cost of delivery provided by teachers is compared to cost of delivery by community distributers (CDD). The total economic cost of the programme including programmatic, national and local government costs and international support in four study districts, over two years, was US$ 456,718; an economic cost/treatment of $0.58. The full economic delivery cost of school based treatment in 2005/06 was $0.76, and for community distribution was $0.46. Including only the programme costs the figures are $0.47 and $0.41 respectively. Differences at sub-district are more marked. This is partly explained by the fact that a CDD treats 5.8 people for every one treated in school. The range in cost effectiveness for both direct and direct and indirect treatments is quantified and the need to develop and refine such estimates is emphasised. Conclusions The relative cost effectiveness of school and community delivery differs by country according to the composition of the population treated, the numbers targeted and treated at school and in the community, the cost and frequency of training teachers and CDDs. Options analysis of technical and implementation alternatives including a financial analysis should form part of the programme design process. PMID:22022622

  6. School and district wellness councils and availability of low-nutrient, energy-dense vending fare in Minnesota middle and high schools.

    PubMed

    Kubik, Martha Y; Lytle, Leslie A; Farbakhsh, Kian

    2011-01-01

    The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 required school districts participating in the federal school meals program to establish by the start of the 2006-2007 school year policies that included nutrition guidelines for all foods sold on school campus during the school day and policy development involving key stakeholders. For many schools, policy development was done by wellness councils. This study examined the association between having a wellness council and availability of low-nutrient, energy-dense foods/beverages in school vending machines following enactment of the federal legislation. In 2006-2007, Minnesota middle (n=35) and high (n=54) school principals reported whether their school and district had a wellness council. Trained research staff observed foods/beverages in vending machines accessible to students. Low-nutrient, energy-dense foods/beverages (snacks >3 g fat or >200 calories/serving, and soda, fruit/sport drinks and reduced-fat/whole milk) were grouped into seven categories (eg, high-fat baked goods) and a food score was calculated. Higher scores indicated more low-nutrient, energy-dense vending fare. Multivariate linear regression, adjusted for school characteristics, was used to examine associations between scores and a three-category council variable (district-only; district and school; no council). Among schools, 53% had district-only councils, 38% district and school councils, and 9% had no council. Schools with both a district and school council had a significantly lower mean food score than schools without councils (P=0.03). The potential of wellness councils to impact availability of low-nutrient, energy-dense vending fare is promising. There may be an added benefit to having both a school and district council. Copyright © 2011 American Dietetic Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Healthier Fundraising in U. S. Elementary Schools: Associations between Policies at the State, District, and School Levels

    PubMed Central

    Turner, Lindsey; Chriqui, Jamie F.; Chaloupka, Frank J.

    2012-01-01

    Objectives We examined whether state laws and district policies pertaining to nutritional restrictions on school fundraisers were associated with school policies as reported by administrators in a nationally-representative sample of United States public elementary schools. Methods We gathered data on school-level fundraising policies via a mail-back survey during the 2009–10 and 2010–11 school years. Surveys were received from 1,278 public elementary schools (response rate = 60.9%). Data were also gathered on corresponding school district policies and state laws. After removing cases with missing data, the sample size for analysis was 1,215 schools. Results After controlling for school characteristics, school policies were consistently associated with state laws and district policies, both those pertaining to fundraising generally, as well as specific restrictions on the sale of candy and soda in fundraisers (all Odds Ratios >2.0 and Ps<.05). However, even where district policies and state laws required fundraising restrictions, school policies were not uniformly present; school policies were also in place at only 55.8% of these schools, but were more common at schools in the West (77.1%) and at majority-Latino schools (71.4%), indicating uneven school-level implementation of district policy and state law. Conclusions District policies and state laws were associated with a higher prevalence of elementary school-level fundraising policies, but many schools that were subject to district policies and state laws did not have school-level restrictions in place, suggesting the need for further attention to factors hindering policy implementation in schools. PMID:23166788

  8. Healthier fundraising in U. S. elementary schools: associations between policies at the state, district, and school levels.

    PubMed

    Turner, Lindsey; Chriqui, Jamie F; Chaloupka, Frank J

    2012-01-01

    We examined whether state laws and district policies pertaining to nutritional restrictions on school fundraisers were associated with school policies as reported by administrators in a nationally-representative sample of United States public elementary schools. We gathered data on school-level fundraising policies via a mail-back survey during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years. Surveys were received from 1,278 public elementary schools (response rate = 60.9%). Data were also gathered on corresponding school district policies and state laws. After removing cases with missing data, the sample size for analysis was 1,215 schools. After controlling for school characteristics, school policies were consistently associated with state laws and district policies, both those pertaining to fundraising generally, as well as specific restrictions on the sale of candy and soda in fundraisers (all Odds Ratios >2.0 and Ps<.05). However, even where district policies and state laws required fundraising restrictions, school policies were not uniformly present; school policies were also in place at only 55.8% of these schools, but were more common at schools in the West (77.1%) and at majority-Latino schools (71.4%), indicating uneven school-level implementation of district policy and state law. District policies and state laws were associated with a higher prevalence of elementary school-level fundraising policies, but many schools that were subject to district policies and state laws did not have school-level restrictions in place, suggesting the need for further attention to factors hindering policy implementation in schools.

  9. Cost-Efficacy Analysis of Out-of-District Special Education Placements: An Evaluative Measure of Behavior Support Intervention in Public Schools.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Putnam, Robert F.; Luiselli, James K.; Sennett, Kenneth; Malonson, Joanne

    2002-01-01

    Evaluation of out-of-district special education placement costs in the 15 largest Massachusetts public school districts found the criterion school district (which had developed a system-wide approach to behavioral intervention) had the lowest per capita cost, lowest percentage of total school budget consumed by out-of-district placements, and the…

  10. Analysis of School Food Safety Programs Based on HACCP Principles

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roberts, Kevin R.; Sauer, Kevin; Sneed, Jeannie; Kwon, Junehee; Olds, David; Cole, Kerri; Shanklin, Carol

    2014-01-01

    Purpose/Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine how school districts have implemented food safety programs based on HACCP principles. Specific objectives included: (1) Evaluate how schools are implementing components of food safety programs; and (2) Determine foodservice employees food-handling practices related to food safety.…

  11. Budgeting Based on Student Needs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Willis, Jason; Hill, Matt

    2011-01-01

    School finance reform has become a key component for transforming public schools in the United States. Over the last decade, a growing number of districts have turned to an approach known by different names--student-based budgeting, weighted student funding and fair student funding, among others--in which budgets are allocated to schools in…

  12. Collaborative School-Based Obesity Interventions: Lessons Learned from 6 Southern Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jain, Anjali; Langwith, Casey

    2013-01-01

    Background: Although studies have shown that school-based obesity interventions can be effective, little is known about how to translate and implement programs into real-world school settings. Methods: Semistructured interviews were conducted in spring 2012 with 19 key informants who participated in a multifaceted childhood obesity intervention…

  13. Closing the Gap: Principal Perspectives on an Innovative School-Based Mental Health Intervention

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blackman, Kate F.; Powers, Joelle D.; Edwards, Jeffrey D.; Wegmann, Kate M.; Lechner, Ethan; Swick, Danielle C.

    2016-01-01

    Mental health needs among children in the United States have significant consequences for children and their families, as well as the schools that serve them. This qualitative study evaluated the second year of an innovative school-based mental health project that created a multi-system partnership between an urban school district, a public mental…

  14. High School Teachers' Perceptions of ePortfolios and Classroom Practice: A Single-Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pimentel, Jerelyn M.

    2010-01-01

    Rhode Island's proficiency-based high school diploma system requires high school graduates to demonstrate proficiency in standard-based content and applied learning skills through at least two performance assessment measures (RIDE, 2003). To meet these requirements, 12 of Rhode Island's 39 school districts are using ePortfolios as one of their…

  15. Clearing Hurdles: The Challenges of Implementation of Mental Health Evidence-Based Practices in Under-Resourced Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eiraldi, Ricardo; Wolk, Courtney Benjamin; Locke, Jill; Beidas, Rinad

    2015-01-01

    Schools have become the main provider of services to children with mental health needs. Although there is substantial literature on barriers to implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in under-resourced school districts, less has been written on how to overcome those barriers. Providing mental health services in the school setting…

  16. Alternative Fuels Data Center: Minnesota School District Finds Cost

    Science.gov Websites

    Savings, Cold-Weather Reliability with Propane Buses Minnesota School District Finds Cost Center: Minnesota School District Finds Cost Savings, Cold-Weather Reliability with Propane Buses on Facebook Tweet about Alternative Fuels Data Center: Minnesota School District Finds Cost Savings, Cold

  17. Alternative Fuels Data Center: Mesa Unified School District Reaps Economic

    Science.gov Websites

    and Environmental Benefits with Propane Buses Mesa Unified School District Reaps Economic and School District Reaps Economic and Environmental Benefits with Propane Buses on Facebook Tweet about Alternative Fuels Data Center: Mesa Unified School District Reaps Economic and Environmental Benefits with

  18. Estimating the Efficiency of Michigan's Rural and Urban Public School Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Maranowski, Rita

    2012-01-01

    This study examined student achievement in Michigan public school districts to determine if rural school districts are demonstrating greater financial efficiency by producing higher levels of student achievement than school districts in other geographic locations with similar socioeconomics. Three models were developed using multiple regression…

  19. District Readiness to Support School Turnaround: A Users' Guide to Inform the Work of State Education Agencies and Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Player, Daniel; Hambrick Hitt, Dallas; Robinson, William

    2014-01-01

    This guide provides state education agencies (SEAs) and districts (LEAs) with guidance about how to assess the district's readiness to support school turnaround initiatives. Often, school turnaround efforts focus only on the school's structure and leadership. Rarely do policymakers or practitioners think about school turnaround as a system-level…

  20. Becoming a Community School: A Study of Oakland Unified School District Community School Implementation, 2015-2016

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fehrer, Kendra; Leos-Urbel, Jacob; Messner, Erica; Riley, Nicole

    2016-01-01

    Since 2014, Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) has partnered with the Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities at Stanford University (Gardner Center) to support OUSD's efforts to assess, enhance, and scale their community schools work. They began by working with the district to develop a System Strategy Map to articulate the district's…

  1. REPORT TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES, SAUSALITO SCHOOL DISTRICT, ON ETHNIC PROBLEMS IN THE SAUSALITO SCHOOL DISTRICT.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    California State Dept. of Education, Sacramento.

    RACIAL IMBALANCE IN THE SAUSALITO SCHOOL DISTRICT HAS LEGAL SOCIAL, ETHICAL, AND EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS. THE SCHOOL POPULATION COMES FROM THREE MAJOR COMMUNITIES WITHIN THE DISTRICT. THE SCHOOLS MUST COPE WITH THE DISCONTINUITY OF A PUPIL ENROLLMENT PATTERN CAUSED BY THE CONSTANT TURNOVER OF PERSONNEL AT THE MILITARY INSTALLATIONS IN THE AREA.…

  2. Opening the Schoolhouse Door: Helping Charter Schools Access Space in District-Owned Facilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gill, Sean; Maas, Tricia

    2017-01-01

    This paper is part of a series on district-charter cooperation, which has been studied by the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) for more than five years. School choice is growing in cities with the addition of charter schools, and more district leaders are adopting a portfolio approach to schooling: giving district schools autonomy…

  3. Kentucky and Missouri School Improvement Models.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wheeler, Nedra; Agruso, Ramona

    The Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 mandates radical changes in curriculum, finances, and governance for all Kentucky schools and requires that all schools implement school-based decision making (SBDM). SBDM involves a cooperative problem solving approach to operational decisions. New York's Johnson City school district developed an…

  4. Oakland Unified School District Community Schools: Understanding Implementation Efforts to Support Students, Teachers, and Families

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fehrer, Kendra; Leos-Urbel, Jacob

    2015-01-01

    In 2010, Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) launched an initiative to transform all district schools into full service community schools. The community school design provides integrated supports to students and fosters a school climate conducive to academic, social, and emotional learning. Interventions span in-school and out-of-school time,…

  5. Counseling, Psychological, and Social Services Staffing: Policies in U.S. School Districts.

    PubMed

    Brener, Nancy; Demissie, Zewditu

    2018-06-01

    Schools are in a unique position to meet the mental and behavioral health needs of children and adolescents because approximately 95% of young people aged 7-17 years attend school. Little is known, however, about policies related to counseling, psychological, and social services staffing in school districts. This study analyzed the prevalence of such policies in public school districts in the U.S. Data from four cycles (2000, 2006, 2012, and 2016) of the School Health Policies and Practices Study, a national survey periodically conducted to assess policies and practices for ten components of school health, were analyzed in 2017. The survey collected data related to counseling, psychological, and social services among nationally representative samples of school districts using online or mailed questionnaires. Sampled districts identified respondents responsible for or most knowledgeable about the content of each questionnaire. The percentage of districts with a district-level counseling, psychological, and social services coordinator increased significantly from 62.6% in 2000 to 79.5% in 2016. In 2016, 56.3% of districts required each school to have someone to coordinate counseling, psychological, and social services at the school. Fewer districts required schools at each level to have a specified ratio of counselors to students (16.2% for elementary schools, 16.8% for middle schools, and 19.8% for high schools), and the percentage of districts with these requirements has decreased significantly since 2012. Increases in the prevalence of district-level staffing policies could help increase the quantity and quality of counseling, psychological, and social services staff in schools nationwide, which in turn could improve mental and behavioral health outcomes for students. This article is part of a supplement entitled The Behavioral Health Workforce: Planning, Practice, and Preparation, which is sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  6. The Need for District Support for School Reform: What the Researchers Say. Research Brief.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Appelbaum, Deborah

    This article focuses on the school district's role in implementing Comprehensive School Reform (CSR). Research shows that effective district support for CSR varies from district to district. This is due, in part, to the fact that many prior models bypassed the district, operating under the belief that reform would be more effective if it targeted…

  7. Schistosomiasis and Soil Transmitted Helminths Distribution in Benin: A Baseline Prevalence Survey in 30 Districts.

    PubMed

    Boko, Pelagie M; Ibikounle, Moudachirou; Onzo-Aboki, Ablawa; Tougoue, Jean-Jacques; Sissinto, Yollande; Batcho, Wilfrid; Kinde-Gazard, Dorothe; Kabore, Achille

    2016-01-01

    In 2013, Benin developed strategies to control neglected tropical diseases and one of the first step was the disease mapping of the entire country in order to identify endemic districts of schistosomiasis and soil transmitted helminths (STH). This study was carried out in 30 of the 77 districts of Benin. Of these 30 districts 22 were previously treated for Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) using the Ivermectin and Albendazole combination. In each district, five schools were selected and 50 children aged 8 to 14 years were sampled in each school, making a total of 250 children sampled in the district. The schools were selected mainly according to their proximity to lakes or any bodies of water that were likely to have been used by the children. Samples of faeces and urine were collected from each pupil. Urinary schistosomiasis was identified using the urine filtration technique while STH and intestinal schistosomiasis were identified through the Kato Katz method. Overall a total of 7500 pupils were surveyed across 150 schools with a gender ratio of 1:1. Hookworm was identified in all 30 districts with a prevalence ranging from 1.2% (95%CI: 0.0-2.5) to 60% (95%CI: 53.9-66.1). Ascaris lumbricoides was detected in 19 districts with a prevalence rate between 1% (95%CI: 0.0-2.2) and 39% (95%CI: 32.9-45.0). In addition to these common STH, Trichuris trichiura, Enterobius vermicularis and Strongyloides stercoralis were found at low prevalence. Only 16 districts were endemic to Schistosoma mansoni, while 29 districts were endemic to S. haematobium. The S. haematobium prevalence ranged from 0.8% (95% CI: 0.0-1.9) to 56% (95% CI: 50.2-62.5) while the prevalence of S. mansoni varied from 0.4% (95%CI: 0.0-1.2) to 46% (95% CI: 39.8-52.2). The 22 districts, where LF was successfully eliminated, still require mass drug administration (MDA) of albendazole indicating that school-based MDA would be needed even after LF elimination in districts co-endemic to LF and STH in Benin.

  8. Schistosomiasis and Soil Transmitted Helminths Distribution in Benin: A Baseline Prevalence Survey in 30 Districts

    PubMed Central

    Boko, Pelagie M.; Ibikounle, Moudachirou; Onzo-Aboki, Ablawa; Tougoue, Jean-Jacques; Sissinto, Yollande; Batcho, Wilfrid; Kinde-Gazard, Dorothe; Kabore, Achille

    2016-01-01

    In 2013, Benin developed strategies to control neglected tropical diseases and one of the first step was the disease mapping of the entire country in order to identify endemic districts of schistosomiasis and soil transmitted helminths (STH). This study was carried out in 30 of the 77 districts of Benin. Of these 30 districts 22 were previously treated for Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) using the Ivermectin and Albendazole combination. In each district, five schools were selected and 50 children aged 8 to 14 years were sampled in each school, making a total of 250 children sampled in the district. The schools were selected mainly according to their proximity to lakes or any bodies of water that were likely to have been used by the children. Samples of faeces and urine were collected from each pupil. Urinary schistosomiasis was identified using the urine filtration technique while STH and intestinal schistosomiasis were identified through the Kato Katz method. Overall a total of 7500 pupils were surveyed across 150 schools with a gender ratio of 1:1. Hookworm was identified in all 30 districts with a prevalence ranging from 1.2% (95%CI: 0.0–2.5) to 60% (95%CI: 53.9–66.1). Ascaris lumbricoides was detected in 19 districts with a prevalence rate between 1% (95%CI: 0.0–2.2) and 39% (95%CI: 32.9–45.0). In addition to these common STH, Trichuris trichiura, Enterobius vermicularis and Strongyloides stercoralis were found at low prevalence. Only 16 districts were endemic to Schistosoma mansoni, while 29 districts were endemic to S. haematobium. The S. haematobium prevalence ranged from 0.8% (95% CI: 0.0–1.9) to 56% (95% CI: 50.2–62.5) while the prevalence of S. mansoni varied from 0.4% (95%CI: 0.0–1.2) to 46% (95% CI: 39.8–52.2). The 22 districts, where LF was successfully eliminated, still require mass drug administration (MDA) of albendazole indicating that school-based MDA would be needed even after LF elimination in districts co-endemic to LF and STH in Benin. PMID:27643795

  9. Report card on school snack food policies among the United States' largest school districts in 2004–2005: Room for improvement

    PubMed Central

    Greves, H Mollie; Rivara, Frederick P

    2006-01-01

    Background Federal nutritional guidelines apply to school foods provided through the national school lunch and breakfast programs, but few federal regulations apply to other foods and drinks sold in schools (labeled "competitive foods"), which are often high in calories, fat and sugar. Competitive food policies among school districts are increasingly viewed as an important modifiable factor in the school nutrition environment, particularly to address rising rates of childhood overweight. Congress passed legislation in 2004 requiring all school districts to develop a Wellness Policy that includes nutrition guidelines for competitive foods starting in 2006–2007. In addition, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recently published recommendations for schools to address childhood obesity. Methods Representatives of school districts with the largest student enrollment in each state and D.C. (N = 51) were interviewed in October-November 2004 about each school district's nutrition policies on "competitive foods." District policies were examined and compared to the Institute of Medicine's recommendations for schools to address childhood obesity. Information about state competitive food policies was accessed via the Internet, and through state and district contacts. Results The 51 districts accounted for 5.9 million students, representing 11% of US students. Nineteen of the 51 districts (39%) had competitive food policies beyond state or federal requirements. The majority of these district policies (79%) were adopted since 2002. School district policies varied in scope and requirements. Ten districts (53%) set different standards by grade level. Most district policies had criteria for food and beverage content (74%) and prohibited the sale of soda in all schools (63%); fewer policies restricted portion size of foods (53%) or beverages (47%). Restrictions more often applied to vending machines (95%), cafeteria à la carte (79%), and student stores (79%) than fundraising activities (47%). Most of the policies did not address more comprehensive approaches to the school nutrition environment, such as nutrition education (32%) or advertising to students (26%), nor did they include guidelines on physical education (11%). In addition, few policies addressed monitoring (32%) or consequences for non-compliance (11%). No policy restricted foods sold for after-school fundraising or required monitoring physical health indicators (e.g. BMI). Conclusion When compared to the Institute of Medicine's recommendations for schools' role in preventing obesity, none of the nutrition policies among each state's largest school district had addressed all the recommendations by 2004–2005. Nutritionists, nurses, pediatricians, parents, and others concerned about child health have an unprecedented opportunity to help shape and implement more comprehensive school district nutrition policies as part of the Congressional requirement for a "Wellness Policy" by 2006–2007. PMID:16390544

  10. Variability in the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act in Wisconsin school districts and science departments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Miller, Christopher L.

    In the United States of America, the public education system is comprised of over 14,000 school districts. Each of these unique districts is being affected by the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. In turn, this diverse population of school districts is determining the impact on education of this sweeping federal education policy. This study examines eight of those school districts to determine their actions related to the early phase of the implementation of one portion of NCLB, the accountability provisions prescribing standardized assessment for the determination of Adequate Yearly Progress. Specifically, this study examines what these eight Wisconsin school districts, serving from 1,000 to over 5,000 students, did with the student achievement data resulting from their state assessment, the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examinations (WKCE). A wide variety of responses were found in how school districts used the WKCE data. The eight school districts were examined to determine what features of their organizations were responsible for how they responded to the enactment of the AYP provisions, specifically how they used the WCKE data. District responses were found to be determined by district size, governance structures, personnel, and dispositions. The interactions of these characteristics were considered in light of organizational studies using conceptualizations borrowed from ecology and the theory of evolution and by studies of school districts.

  11. How State Takeover School Districts Shake Up Teacher Professional Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pennington, Kaitlin

    2014-01-01

    Over the past few decades, many state departments of education have taken over low-performing schools or districts as a school turnaround strategy. Recently, that strategy has shifted to creating new districts--managed by the state--that include schools and parts of districts that face challenges in performance. The governance structure brings…

  12. Comprehensive Profile of the San Antonio Indepentent School District 1983-1984.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    San Antonio Independent School District, TX.

    This report presents statistical data about the San Antonio (Texas) Independent School District for the 1983-1984 school year. Trends for five or ten year groupings of past years are also presented. The report consolidates both district and individual school information from regular reports by the different district departments. The data is…

  13. Governing Urban School Districts: Efforts in Los Angeles to Effect Change

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Augustine, Catherine H.; Epstein, Diana; Vuollo, Mirka

    2006-01-01

    Many urban school district students are dropping out and few of the remaining ones reach state or district achievement goals. These problems make governing urban schools both difficult and important. In 2005-06, the governance structure of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) was examined, debated, criticized, and praised by several…

  14. Research Use by Leaders in Canadian School Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cooper, Amander; Levin, Ben

    2013-01-01

    This paper, part of a larger study, investigates the ways research is used by leaders in Canadian schools and districts, an area in which there is relatively little empirical evidence. The paper analyzes survey results from 188 education leaders in 11 school districts across Canada about school and district practices related to the use of…

  15. Projecting Enrollment in Rural Schools: A Study of Three Vermont School Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grip, Richard S.

    2004-01-01

    Large numbers of rural districts have experienced sharp declines in enrollment, unlike their suburban counterparts. Accurate enrollment projections are required, whether a district needs to build new schools or consolidate existing ones. For school districts having more than 600 students, a quantitative method such as the Cohort-Survival Ratio…

  16. Charter and Direct Run Schools of the Recovery School District (RSD) and Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) Comparison of High Stakes Tests and Dropout Rates

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Andry, Beverly Guillory

    2011-01-01

    The city of New Orleans has embarked on an historic experiment reinventing its schools--once considered among the worst in the country--from a centralized, single district model of education to a two district model in which both the Recovery School District (RSD) and the preexisting Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) both operate direct run and…

  17. From the Middle to the Top of the Heap! Excellence in Rural Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carr, John C.

    Since 1975 the Contoocook Valley District, a small rural cooperative school district in southwestern New Hampshire, has developed a performance-based student competency program which has resulted in a dramatic increase in scores on the Stanford Achievement Test. The district is comprised of 9 towns, covers an area of almost 300 square miles, and…

  18. PMIS Project. Planning & Management Information System. A Project To Develop a Data Processing System for Support of the Planning and Management Needs of Local School Districts. Final Report, Year 2.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Council of the Great City Schools, Washington, DC.

    This document examines the design and structure of PMIS (Planning and Management Information System), an information system that supports the decisionmaking process of executive management in local school districts. The system is designed around a comprehensive, longitudinal, and interrelated data base. It utilizes a powerful real-time,…

  19. The Teacher Strike: School District Protection Procedures. A Manual for School District Officials on How to Handle a Teachers' Strike.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Igoe, Joseph A.; DiRocco, Anthony P.

    This booklet is designed to give practical and realistic advice to school district officials faced with the possibility of a teachers' strike. It is intended for use both by school district administrators and school board members. The booklet is organized into four sections that focus in turn on signs of a pending teachers' strike, union…

  20. Rearranging Deck Chairs in Dallas: Contextual Constraints and Within-District Resource Allocation in Urban Texas School Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baker, Bruce D.

    2012-01-01

    The goal of this study is to simultaneously explore resource allocation across schools within large urban school districts and across all schools within major metropolitan areas that include those urban districts in the state of Texas. This study uses a three-year panel, from 2005 to 2007, for Texas elementary schools in the Houston, Dallas,…

  1. Review of the Organizational Structure and Operations of the Los Angeles Unified School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Council of the Great City Schools, 2006

    2006-01-01

    The Los Angeles Unified School District is the second largest public school system in the United States, and one of the largest organizations of any kind in the country. As with urban school systems across the country, the Los Angeles school district is under enormous pressure to improve. The district is under public scrutiny and is the subject of…

  2. National Implications for Urban School Systems: Strategic Planning in the Human Resource Management Department in a Large Urban School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Clarence; Kritsonis, William Allan

    2007-01-01

    This article addresses several key ongoing issues in a large urban school district. Literature focuses on what make a large urban school district effective in Human Resource Management. The effectiveness is addressed through recruitment and retention practices. A comparison of the school district with current research is the main approach to the…

  3. School District Personnel Describe One Example of Effective Change Implementation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jones, Toni Griego

    Three large urban school districts located in the Midwest, Southwest, and West Coast regions were involved in a study designed to reveal district personnel's perceptions of change within their school district. After describing the study, this document analyzes perceptions of change related to one district's new bilingual program that was…

  4. Analysis of Superintendent Longevity in Large School Districts: A Qualitative Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mouton, Nikki Golar

    2013-01-01

    School district leadership matters, as evidenced by a meta-analysis of 27 reports and 1,210 districts conducted by Waters and Marzano (2006) which highlights a statistically significant correlation between district leadership and student achievement. Because this relationship is significant, it is important for school districts to have effective…

  5. School District Employment Reductions Slow. Get the Facts. #1

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tallman, Mark

    2012-01-01

    Kansas school districts reduced employment by 327 full-time equivalent positions this school year, the smallest reduction in three years of cuts to district operating budgets. Districts reduced positions by 561 in FY 2010 and 1,626 in FY 2011. Districts eliminated nearly 400 "regular" teaching positions this year, but added 114 special…

  6. Preschool Guidelines: Rural Model (Trimble Local School District).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ohio State Dept. of Education, Columbus. Div. of Educational Services.

    The purpose of this handbook is to guide rural school districts intending to establish a preschool program. The program described was established in the Trimble Local School District in the rural Appalachian area of northern Athens County, the third poorest district in Ohio. Contents concern: (1) the district's beliefs about children; (2)…

  7. Efforts to Improve Mathematics Teacher Competency Through Training Program on Design Olympiad Mathematics Problems Based on Higher Order Thinking Skills in The Junior High School

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arnellis, A.; Jamaan, E. Z.; Amalita, N.

    2018-04-01

    The goal to analyse a improvement of teacher competence after being trained in preparing high-order math olympicad based on high order thinking skills in junior high school teachers in Pesisir Selatan Regency. The sample of these activities are teachers at the MGMP junior high school in Pesisir Selatan District. Evaluation of the implementation is done by giving a pre test and post test, which will measure the success rate of the implementation of this activities. The existence of the devotion activities is expected to understand the enrichment of mathematics olympiad material and training in the preparation of math olympiad questions for the teachers of South Pesisir district junior high school, motivating and raising the interest of the participants in order to follow the mathematics olympiad with the enrichment of mathematics materials and the training of problem solving about mathematics olympiad for junior high school teachers, the participants gain experience and gain insight, as well as the ins and outs of junior mathematics olympiad and implement to teachers and students in olympic competitions. The result of that the post-test is better than the result of pretest in the training of mathematics teacher competence improvement in composing the mathematics olympiad problem based on high order thinking skills of junior high school (SMP) in Pesisir Selatan District, West Sumatra, Indonesia.

  8. Income Segregation between Schools and School Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Owens, Ann; Reardon, Sean F.; Jencks, Christopher

    2016-01-01

    Although trends in the racial segregation of schools are well documented, less is known about trends in income segregation. We use multiple data sources to document trends in income segregation between schools and school districts. Between-district income segregation of families with children enrolled in public school increased by over 15% from…

  9. The prevalence of evidence-based substance use prevention curricula in the nation’s elementary schools1

    PubMed Central

    Hanley, Sean; Ringwalt, Chris; Ennett, Susan T.; Vincus, Amy A.; Bowling, J. Michael; Haws, Susan W.; Rohrbach, Louise A.

    2010-01-01

    Current guidelines for school-based substance use prevention suggest that prevention efforts should begin in elementary grades, before students begin using substances. Previous research suggests, however, that the use of evidence-based curricula in these grades may be low. Using a 2005 survey of public school districts in the U.S. that include elementary grades (n=1563), we assessed the prevalence of elementary curricula use, particularly those designated as evidence-based. We found that although 72% of districts administer a substance use prevention curriculum to their elementary students, only about 35% are using one that is evidence-based and only about 14% are using an evidence-based curriculum more so than any other prevention curriculum. We present prevalence estimates for specific evidence-based curricula and conclude by discussing possible reasons for and implications of our findings. PMID:21038763

  10. Lesher Middle School: Commitment by Choice

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Principal Leadership, 2012

    2012-01-01

    This article features Lesher Middle School, a school of choice, as are all of the schools in the Poudre School District in Ft. Collins, Colorado. In 2004, it was a traditional junior high school with a declining enrollment that housed an application-based International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (IB MYP) that resulted in tracking…

  11. School and Family Counselors Work Together to Reduce Fighting at School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Canfield, Brian S.; Ballard, Mary B.; Osmon, Bonnie C.; McCune, Cecil

    2004-01-01

    To address the problem of fighting in four urban middle schools, school and family counselors collaborated to provide school-based multifamily counseling as an alternative to the mandatory 3-day external suspension program. Supported by district leaders and local school principals, the program was successful in reducing fighting recidivism rates.…

  12. Using a Cloud-Based Computing Environment to Support Teacher Training on Common Core Implementation

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Robertson, Cory

    2013-01-01

    A cloud-based computing environment, Google Apps for Education (GAFE), has provided the Anaheim City School District (ACSD) a comprehensive and collaborative avenue for creating, sharing, and editing documents, calendars, and social networking communities. With this environment, teachers and district staff at ACSD are able to utilize the deep…

  13. Section 504 Compliance in Missouri School Districts: A Problem-Based Discrepancy Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Spurgin, Armand; Steffes, Terri; Wilson, Suzanne

    2013-01-01

    This report describes a problem based learning project focusing on Section 504 Compliance in the State of Missouri. Additionally it provides information about Superintendent's perceptions and levels of knowledge about Section 504 compliance in their districts. The project team sought to learn and understand the historical timeline of legislation…

  14. Women of Color School Leaders: Leadership Schools Should Not Ignore

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haar, Jean M.; Robicheau, Jerry W.

    2009-01-01

    School districts are faced with challenges resulting from the changing demographics of the student population. Consequently, school districts are creating positive, multicultural learning environments. School districts intent on establishing multicultural learning environments should consider the contributions people of color, specifically women…

  15. Torts.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thurston, Paul W.

    Decisions made by federal and state courts during 1983 concerning the liability of schools, school districts, school boards, or school employees in tort cases are reported in this chapter. Torts are civil causes of action based on noncontractual legal responsibilities that individuals have to avoid harming or injuring another's person, property,…

  16. Clearing Hurdles: The Challenges of Implementation of Mental Health Evidence-Based Practices in Under-resourced Schools.

    PubMed

    Eiraldi, Ricardo; Wolk, Courtney Benjamin; Locke, Jill; Beidas, Rinad

    Schools have become the main provider of services to children with mental health needs. Although there is substantial literature on barriers to implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in under-resourced school districts, less has been written on how to overcome those barriers. Providing mental health services in the school setting presents a tremendous opportunity to increase access to quality mental health care for underserved youth. This review provides a brief overview of the barriers to successful implementation and sustainment of EBPs in under-resourced public schools and provides recommendations for overcoming them. The discussion is organized around an established conceptual framework adapted for the delivery of services in under-resourced schools that focuses on interdependent factors that exist at the individual-, team, school-, and macro-levels. This manuscript explores some recommendations and strategies for effectively addressing challenges related to implementation of EBPs. Research ideas are offered to bridge the research-to-practice gap that impacts many under-resourced public school districts.

  17. Clearing Hurdles: The Challenges of Implementation of Mental Health Evidence-Based Practices in Under-resourced Schools

    PubMed Central

    Eiraldi, Ricardo; Wolk, Courtney Benjamin; Locke, Jill; Beidas, Rinad

    2015-01-01

    Schools have become the main provider of services to children with mental health needs. Although there is substantial literature on barriers to implementation of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in under-resourced school districts, less has been written on how to overcome those barriers. Providing mental health services in the school setting presents a tremendous opportunity to increase access to quality mental health care for underserved youth. This review provides a brief overview of the barriers to successful implementation and sustainment of EBPs in under-resourced public schools and provides recommendations for overcoming them. The discussion is organized around an established conceptual framework adapted for the delivery of services in under-resourced schools that focuses on interdependent factors that exist at the individual-, team, school-, and macro-levels. This manuscript explores some recommendations and strategies for effectively addressing challenges related to implementation of EBPs. Research ideas are offered to bridge the research-to-practice gap that impacts many under-resourced public school districts. PMID:26336512

  18. Year One: An Evaluation of School-Based Development Corporations in Five Rural Arkansas Towns.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arkansas Community Education Development Association, Little Rock.

    Rural school districts in five Arkansas towns set up school-based development corporations (SBDCs) to provide vocational and career training relevant to the needs of rural high school students and the community and to improve the economic and social welfare of the community as a whole. Each SBDC owned and operated businesses using student labor…

  19. Advancing College Opportunity: An Impact Evaluation of the Growth of Dual Credit in Stark and Wayne Counties, Ohio

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rochford, Joseph A.; O'Neill, Adrienne; Gelb, Adele

    2009-01-01

    This impact evaluation looks at three years of growth for "high school-based dual credit" courses exclusive of Canton's Early College High School in Stark and Wayne Counties. As "high school based dual credit" is increasingly implemented in low wealth and urban districts, accompanied by an increase in high school teachers…

  20. Child's Weight Status and Parent's Response to a School-Based Body Mass Index Screening and Parent Notification Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Jiwoo; Kubik, Martha Y.

    2015-01-01

    This study examined the response of parents of elementary school-aged children to a school-based body mass index (BMI) screening and parent notification program conducted in one Minnesota school district in 2010-2011 and whether parent's response was moderated by child's weight status. Randomly selected parents (N = 122) of second- and…

  1. A Pilot Study Exploring After-School Care Providers' Response to the Incredible Years Classroom Management Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hicks-Hoste, Taylor B.; Carlson, John S.; Tiret, Holly B.

    2015-01-01

    The need for and importance of bringing evidence-based interventions into school settings has been firmly established. Adapting and adjusting intervention programs to meet the unique needs of a school district requires personnel to use a data-based approach to implementation. This pilot study is the first to report on after-school care providers'…

  2. School District Response to the Ohio Local Option Income Tax.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    House, Jess E.

    Ohio State Senate Bill 28 allows school districts, with voter approval, to impose a tax on the incomes of district residents. This paper examines the early response of school districts to the opportunity presented by the legislation. The paper explains the Ohio system for funding public schools, with a focus on revenue growth, describes features…

  3. Elementary and Secondary Civil Rights Survey, 1984. National Summaries.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    DBS Corp., Arlington, VA.

    This 1984 survey was conducted to obtain data on the characteristics of public school students in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The 3,510 school districts selected to participate were statistically sampled from approximately 16,000 U.S. school districts, and the schools within the selected districts were subsampled: (1) all special…

  4. A Model for Determining School District Cash Flow Needs.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dembowski, Frederick L.

    This paper discusses a model to optimize cash management in school districts. A brief discussion of the cash flow pattern of school districts is followed by an analysis of the constraints faced by the school districts in their investment planning process. A linear programming model used to optimize net interest earnings on investments is developed…

  5. A Sense of Balance: District Aligns Personalized Learning with School and System Goals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Donsky, Debbie; Witherow, Kathy

    2015-01-01

    This article addresses the challenge of personalizing learning while also ensuring alignment with system and school improvement plans. Leaders of the York Region District School Board in Ontario knew that what took their high-performing school district from good to great would not take it from great to excellent. The district's early model of…

  6. School District Revenues for Elementary and Secondary Education: 1997-98. Statistical Analysis Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sherman, Joel D.; Gregory, Barbra; Poirier, Jeffrey M.

    This report is an annual collection of school district financial data. Specifically, this report presents analyses of school district revenues from the 1997-98 school year. The report is designed to address the following questions about the financing of public elementary and secondary education at the state and district levels: How much money per…

  7. Little Reason for Being: A Case of School District Dissolution.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ellis, Pam

    In 1980, Tonnelly Central School District became the first school district in New York State to be dissolved pursuant to Section 1505 of Education Law, marking the first use of dissolution and annexation as a means by which to address the programmatic and management problems encountered in the operation of a central school district. Problems faced…

  8. School District Personnel Selection Practices: Exploring the Effects of Demographic Factors on Rural Values within a Person-Organization Fit Model.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Little, Paula S.; Miller, Stephen K.

    A study examined the extent to which demographic factors predict rural values in Kentucky public school district hiring officials. Among the demographic factors considered were school district metropolitan classification, school district size, community racial composition, decision makers' position in the organizational hierarchy, and decision…

  9. Challenges Faced by Maine School Districts in Providing High Quality Public Education. Research Brief

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Silvernail, David L.; Linet, Sarah R.

    2014-01-01

    The goal of this study was to: (1) identify challenges faced by Maine school districts in providing high quality public education; (2) describe the magnitude of the challenges; and (3) identify areas where school districts were experiencing some success in meeting these challenges. The School Districts Challenge Survey was distributed online to…

  10. The Determinants of School District Salary Incentives: An Empirical Analysis of, Where and Why

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martin, Stephanie M.

    2010-01-01

    Most public school districts in the United States use a salary schedule to determine compensation for teachers within the district. However, some school districts have implemented incentive pay schemes that allow flexibility at the school or even individual teacher level. These compensation schemes in some ways may more closely approximate a…

  11. Evaluation of a School-Based Asthma Education Protocol: "Iggy and the Inhalers"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mickel, Catherine F.; Shanovich, Kathleen K.; Evans, Michael D.; Jackson, Daniel J.

    2017-01-01

    School-based asthma education offers an opportunity to reach low-income children at risk for poor asthma control. "Iggy and the Inhalers" (Iggy) is an asthma education program that was implemented in a Midwest metropolitan school district. The purpose of this evaluation was to conduct a comprehensive program evaluation. Objectives…

  12. Attaining Reading Success through School-Wide and Content-Based Literacy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Joseph Watts, Martha

    2013-01-01

    Reading performance among Grade 11 students has been low in the local school district under study. Schools within the boundaries of that setting have implemented research-based interventions to curb this problem of poor reading performance. A quasi-experimental, causal-comparative study was conducted to investigate the effect of Marzano's…

  13. Outdoors--Nature's Learning Center. A Guide for Implementing an Outdoor Laboratory School Program.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Banks, Dorothy E.

    The Round Meadow Environmental Laboratory School is an exemplary project designed to aid District of Columbia 6th grade children in overcoming the educational disadvantages of urban minority group isolation, both cultural and geographical, through a school-based and camp-based interracial and intercultural environmental awareness program. During…

  14. Curriculum-Based Measures of Writing for High School Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Diercks-Gransee, Barbara; Weissenburger, Jacalyn Wright; Johnson, Cindy L.; Christensen, Paul

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine whether technically adequate curriculum-based measures of writing could be identified for use with high school students. The participants included 10th-grade general and special education students from two public school districts in Wisconsin. Students (n = 82) completed two narrative writing samples in…

  15. Student & Family Assistance Programs and Services To Address Barriers to Learning. A Center Training Tutorial.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    California Univ., Los Angeles. Center for Mental Health in Schools.

    Most school districts employ student support or "pupil services professionals," such as school psychologists, counselors, and social workers. These personnel perform services connected with mental health and psychosocial problems. The format usually is a combination of centrally based and school-based services. Amelioration of the full continuum…

  16. Building a Foundation: How Technology-Rich Project-Based Learning Transformed Talladega County Schools. Case Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jones, Rachel; Hall, Sara White; Thigpen, Kamila; Murray, Tom; Loschert, Kristen

    2015-01-01

    This report demonstrates how one predominantly low-income school district dramatically improved student engagement in the classroom and increased high school graduation rates through project-based learning (PBL) and the effective use of technology. The report, which includes short video segments with educators and students, focuses on Talladega…

  17. Desegregation Activities: Administration of Education Grant Funds at the Cleveland School District. Report to the Honorable Louis Stokes, House of Representatives.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    General Accounting Office, Washington, DC. Div. of Human Resources.

    An examination was made of the U.S. Department of Education grants awarded to the Cleveland School District for desegregation activities, including how Department of Education funds were used by the school district and how the department administered and monitored Magnet School grants awarded to the school district for fiscal years 1986 and 1987.…

  18. Boston Public Schools: Family Guide to the Pilot, Horace Mann, and Innovation Schools, 2011-2012

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Center for Collaborative Education, 2012

    2012-01-01

    A Pilot School is a public school in the Boston Public School district with teachers who are members of the Boston Teachers Union. A Horace Mann Charter School is a public school under a Massachusetts state charter that operates within a regular school district and serves the students and families enrolled in that district. An Innovation School, a…

  19. A Phenomenological Study of Superintendents' and School Board Presidents' Perceptions Related to the Influence of School Boards on School District Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moten, Anthony C.

    2015-01-01

    This phenomenological narrative study was designed to investigate superintendents' and school board presidents' perception related to the influence of school boards on school district performance. Participants were three superintendents and three school board presidents whose districts were recognized as met standards for the 2014-2015 academic…

  20. Determining Dropout Rates in Large City School Districts: Problems and Accomplishments.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Frymier, Jack

    As part of an effort to reduce high school dropout rates in large city school districts, Phi Delta Kappa, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the Council of Great City Schools, and a group of large city school districts undertook an effort to determine baseline statistics in high schools in large cities by using standardized…

  1. Sexual Harassment Policies in Florida School Districts.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rienzo, Barbara A.; Moore, Michele Johnson

    1998-01-01

    Investigated the extent to which Florida's school districts complied with the Florida Department of Education's (FDOE) recommendations for addressing sexual harassment in schools. Surveys of district equity coordinators and analysis of policies indicated that most districts approved sexual harassment policies incorporating many FDOE…

  2. Preparing for Decision-Making: Training for Effective School-Based Budgeting in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Denver.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lauber, Diana; Warden, Christine

    So that New York City could build on the experiences of other large cities as it implemented Performance Driven Budgeting (PDB) in the schools, a study was conducted of the school based budgeting training in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Denver. These districts have from 6 to 10 years experience in site-based budgeting. The study is based on…

  3. Characteristics of Illinois School Districts That Employ School Nurses.

    PubMed

    Searing, Lisabeth M; Guenette, Molly

    2016-08-01

    Research indicates that school nursing services are cost-effective, but the National Association of School Nurses estimates that 25% of schools do not have a school nurse (SN). The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of Illinois school districts that employed SNs. This was a secondary data analysis of Illinois School Report Card system data as well as data obtained from district websites regarding SNs. Employment of an SN was determined for 95% of the 862 existing districts. Binary logistic regression analysis found that district size was the largest significant predictor of employment of an SN. Other factors included the type of district and diversity of the teaching staff as well as the percentage of students receiving special education services or with limited English proficiency. These findings indicate where to focus advocacy and policy efforts to encourage employment of SNs. © The Author(s) 2015.

  4. Brain-Based Learning and Classroom Practice: A Study Investigating Instructional Methodologies of Urban School Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Morris, Lajuana Trezette

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the implementation of brain-based instructional strategies by teachers serving at Title I elementary, middle, and high schools within the Memphis City School District. This study was designed to determine: (a) the extent to which Title I teachers applied brain-based strategies, (b) the differences in…

  5. Early Returns on District of Columbia Charter Schools. Capital Campaign

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mead, Sara

    2005-01-01

    In this report for the Progressive Policy Institute's 21st Century Schools Project, the author examines charter schooling in Washington, D.C., including the region's unique history of charter schooling and the challenges these schools face. She is optimistic about the future of the District's charter school movement, but argues that District and…

  6. Income Segregation between Schools and School Districts. CEPA Working Paper No. 16-04

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Owens, Ann; Reardon, Sean F.; Jencks, Christopher

    2016-01-01

    Although trends in the racial segregation of schools are well documented, less is known about trends in "income" segregation. We use multiple data sources to document trends in income segregation between schools and school districts. Between-district income segregation of families with children enrolled in public school increased by over…

  7. Strategies to Maintain School District Financial Solvency: Illinois School Business Officials' Recommendations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Williams, Ann C.; Kersten, Thomas A.

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to identify financial management strategies that school business officials have found most successful in achieving school district financial stability. To accomplish, 208 Illinois school business officials in six counties: Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties, excluding Chicago School District 299,…

  8. District of Columbia Public Schools: Student Enrollment Count Remains Vulnerable to Errors. Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on the District of Columbia, Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. House of Representatives.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    General Accounting Office, Washington, DC. Health, Education, and Human Services Div.

    The District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) is one of the largest public school districts in the United States. Since 1989-90, there have been questions about several aspects of DCPS's enrollment-count process. A valid enrollment-count process and an accurate count are critical to DCPS's district- and school-level planning, staffing, funding,…

  9. Physical education policy compliance and Latino children’s fitness: Does the association vary by school neighborhood socioeconomic advantage?

    PubMed Central

    Sanchez-Vaznaugh, Emma V.; Goldman Rosas, Lisa; Fernández-Peña, José Ramón; Baek, Jonggyu; Egerter, Susan; Sánchez, Brisa N.

    2017-01-01

    Objectives To investigate the contribution of school neighborhood socioeconomic advantage to the association between school-district physical education policy compliance in California public schools and Latino students’ physical fitness. Methods Cross-sectional Fitnessgram data for public-school students were linked with school- and district-level information, district-level physical education policy compliance from 2004–2005 and 2005–2006, and 2000 United States Census data. Multilevel logistic regression models examined whether income and education levels in school neighborhoods moderated the effects of district-level physical education policy compliance on Latino fifth-graders’ fitness levels. Results Physical education compliance data were available for 48 California school districts, which included 64,073 Latino fifth-graders. Fewer than half (23, or 46%) of these districts were found to be in compliance, and only 16% of Latino fifth-graders attended schools in compliant districts. Overall, there was a positive association between district compliance with physical education policy and fitness (OR, 95%CI: 1.38, 1.07, 1.78) adjusted for covariates. There was no significant interaction between school neighborhood socioeconomic advantage and physical education policy compliance (p>.05): there was a positive pattern in the association between school district compliance with physical education policy and student fitness levels across levels of socioeconomic advantage, though the association was not always significant. Conclusions Across neighborhoods with varying levels of socioeconomic advantage, increasing physical education policy compliance in elementary schools may be an effective strategy for improving fitness among Latino children. PMID:28591139

  10. Leadership and Conflict in Two School Districts: "Visible" and "Invisible" Factors.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bridgeland, William M.; Thomas, David M.

    1979-01-01

    In this study, the decision making processes of two Michigan school systems are examined with respect to issues in each community, effectiveness of school leadership, and system differences. Information is based on census data, school data, and intensive interviews with key informants. (Author/WI)

  11. Test Use and Abuse

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tienken, Christopher H.

    2015-01-01

    The ubiquitous use of standardized test results to make varied judgments about educators, students, and schools within the public school system raises concerns of validity. If the test results have not been validated for making multiple determinations, then the decisions made about educators, students, schools, and school districts based on the…

  12. A School-Based Clinic for Elementary Schools in Phoenix, Arizona.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wenzel, Mark

    1996-01-01

    A hospital, school district, and pediatrician collaboration ensured all elementary students access to health care. School nurses referred students without health insurance needing health care to hospital-provided nurse practitioners for primary care. The hospital provided pharmacy, radiology, laboratory, and emergency services. The pediatrician…

  13. Computer-Based Junior High/Intermediate School Program of Transitional Bilingual Education, Community School District 3, Manhattan. Final Evaluation Report, 1992-93. OREA Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duque, Diana L.

    The Computer-Based Junior High/Intermediate School Program of Transitional Bilingual Education was a federally funded program in its third year of operation in one intermediate school and two junior high schools in Manhattan (New York) in 1992-93. During this period, it served 244 native Spanish-speaking, limited-English-proficient (LEP) students…

  14. Why and How Do Parents Decide to Send Their Children to the Interdistrict School Choice Program at the Magnet Program for Math and Science

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Doyle, Kevin S.

    The New Jersey Interdistrict School Choice Program allows parents to send their students to schools outside of their local school district. Determining why parents send their students to choice schools is important to school leaders who are trying to attract new students, as well as those who are trying to retain their current students. This study examined the reasons why parents decided to send their students to the Magnet Program for Math and Science (MP4M&S), a school choice program in a suburban school district in northwest New Jersey, during the 2015- 2016 school year. A large volume of research has focused on school choice programs in urban and poor communities. This study addressed the gap in the research by focusing on an affluent suburban school district. This mixed methods study focused on three areas, why parents choose to send their students to the MP4M&S, what criteria they used to make their decision, and where they got their information. Research shows that these three areas of focus can be influenced by parental level of education, socioeconomic status, geographic location, academic rigor, school quality, and school environment. Parents from different groups, based upon their out-of-district status, were interviewed. The information from the interviews was used to focus a survey that was given to the families of all 137 students in the MP4M&S during the 2015-2016 school year. The results of this study show that parents found the academic focus, academic rigor, the school environment, the original research project, the activity offerings, and the economics involved in attending the program to be important attractors. The study also found that the Information Nights, the school website, and interactions with members of the MP4M&S community to be important sources of information. Finally, the study found that there were few differences between in and out-of-district parents when assigning importance to both the attractors and the sources in the study. The results of this study will be shared with the leadership team of the MP4M&S and the Morris Hills Regional District so that they can develop strategies and resources that attract parents to the program.

  15. Peer-Reviewed Research and the IEP: Implications of "Ridley School District v. M.R. and J.R. ex rel. E.R." (2012)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yell, Mitchell L.; Katsiyannis, Antonis; Losinski, Mickey; Marshall, Kelsey

    2016-01-01

    This article examines a case out of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit: "Ridley School District v. M.R and J.R. ex rel. E.R." (2012). The case is the first circuit court case in which the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act requirement that special education services be based on peer-reviewed research…

  16. Comparative Effectiveness of TI-84 Graphing Calculators on Algebra I and Geometry Outcomes: A Report of Randomized Experiments in the East Side Union High School District and San Diego Unified School District. Research Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miller, Gloria I.; Jaciw, Andrew; Hoshiko, Brandon; Wei, Xin

    2007-01-01

    Texas Instruments has undertaken a research program with the goal of producing scientifically-based evidence of the effectiveness of graphing calculators and the "TI-Navigator"[TM] classroom networking system in the context of a professional development and curriculum framework. The program includes a two-year longitudinal study. The…

  17. Beginning Teachers' Experiences Working with a District-Employed Mentor in a North Carolina School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hobbs, Kari S.; Putnam, Jennifer

    2016-01-01

    This study is concerned with the experiences of beginning teachers working with a district-employed mentor. Based on Illeris's (2002) Three Dimensions of Learning, the study sought to understand the cognitive, emotional, and social processes involved in working with a mentor through the use of one-on one, in-depth interviews. Nine beginning…

  18. A Cooperative Program Between a City School District and a Suburban School District. Interim Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rochester City School District, NY.

    An urban-suburban interdistrict program is described in which efforts were made to correct racial imbalance in both districts. In 1965 free transportation was provided for 25 first grade children who were sent voluntarily from a Rochester, N.Y. public school to six schools in the West Irondequoit district. This longitudinal metropolitan approach…

  19. University of Georgia and Clarke County School District: Creating a Dynamic and Sustainable District-Wide Partnership

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dresden, Janna; Gilbertson, Erica; Tavernier, Mark

    2016-01-01

    The UGA/CCSD Professional Development School District (PDSD) partnership began in 2009 with one school, and has grown to serve all schools in the district. The premise of the PDSD is that equity is achieved by providing high quality education for all students through programs and processes that are emergent, organic, dynamic and collaborative. All…

  20. From Statehouse to Schoolhouse: Anti-Bullying Policy Efforts in U.S. States and School Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kull, Ryan M.; Kosciw, Joseph G.; Greytak, Emily A.

    2015-01-01

    "From Statehouse to Schoolhouse: Anti-Bullying Policy Efforts in U.S. States and School Districts," examines the anti-bullying policies of all 13,181 school districts across the country. It provides the prevalence of anti-bullying policies in all U.S. school districts and whether state laws and guidance are being implemented at the…

  1. Financing Facilities in Rural School Districts: Variations among the States and the Case of Arkansas.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hughes, Mary F.

    This chapter examines the main challenges that rural school districts face in school facilities funding and illustrates these problems with a case study of Arkansas. Most rural school districts serve only a small number of students, which tends to limit the funds available for construction or renovation. In addition, rural districts are likely to…

  2. Perspectives of Key Central Office Staff and School Principals Regarding Resource Allocation Policies and Procedures. A Report Prepared for Los Angeles Unified School District. SSFR Research Report #02 (LAUSD)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chambers, Jay G.; Jubb, Steve; Manship, Karen; Rosas, Rigo; Brown, James R.

    2010-01-01

    This report summarizes the perspectives and attitudes of a selected set of district and school site administrators whom the authors interviewed in Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) during the fall and winter of the 2009-2010 school year. The authors carried out interviews with selected district administrators and a series of focus groups…

  3. Quakertown Community School District: A Systematic Approach to Blended Learning That Focuses on District Leadership, Staffing, and Cost-Effectiveness. From the Field. Digital Learning Series

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Han, Jiye Grace; Ableidinger, Joe; Hassel, Bryan C.; Jones, Rachel; Wolf, Mary Ann

    2013-01-01

    The Quakertown Community School District, or QCSD, is a traditional K-12 public school district in rural southeastern Pennsylvania, located in Bucks County, about an hour north of Philadelphia. QCSD has ten schools, including one high school, and serves approximately 5,500 students, 24 percent of whom are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch…

  4. Expanding school-district/university partnerships to advance health promoting schools implementation and efficacy in Taiwan.

    PubMed

    Liu, Chieh-Hsing; Chang, Fong-Ching; Liao, Li-Ling; Niu, Yu-Zhen; Cheng, Chi-Chia; Shih, Shu-Fang; Chang, Tzu-Chau; Chou, Hsin-Pei

    2015-08-01

    In 2011, the Taiwan government expanded its support of school-district/university partnership programs that promote the implementation of the evidenced-based Health Promoting Schools (HPS) program. This study examined whether expanding the support for this initiative was effective in advancing HPS implementation, perceived HPS impact and perceived HPS efficacy in Taiwan. In 2011 and 2013, a total of 647 and 1195 schools, respectively, complemented the questionnaire. Univariate analysis results indicated that the HPS implementation levels for six components were significantly increased from 2011 to 2013. These components included school health policies, physical environment, social environment, teaching activities and school-community relationships. Participant teachers also reported significantly greater levels of perceived HPS impact and HPS efficacy after the expansion of support for school-district/university partnership programs. Multivariate analysis results indicated that after controlling for school level, HPS funding and HPS action research approach variables, the expansion had a positive impact on increasing the levels of HPS implementation, perceived HPS impact and perceived HPS efficacy. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  5. WWC Quick Review of the Report "Charter School Performance in Los Angeles Unified School District: A District and Neighborhood Matched Comparison Analysis"

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    What Works Clearinghouse, 2008

    2008-01-01

    The study examined whether charter schools have higher growth in student achievement than traditional public schools. The study analyzed data on 79 charter schools and 593 traditional public elementary, middle, and high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District from 2005-06 to 2006-07. School-level academic achievement was measured using…

  6. District of Columbia Charter Schools: Criteria for Awarding School Buildings to Charter Schools Needs Additional Transparency. Report to Congressional Committees. GAO-11-263

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Scott, George A.

    2011-01-01

    Almost 40 percent of all public school students in the District of Columbia (D.C. or District) were enrolled in charter schools in the 2010-11 school year. The D.C. School Reform Act established the Public Charter School Board (PCSB) for the purpose of authorizing and overseeing charter schools. Congress required GAO (US Government Accountability…

  7. The Relationship between Schools' Costs per Pupil and Nevada School Performance Framework Index Scores in Clark County School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rice, John; Huang, Min

    2015-01-01

    Clark County School District (CCSD) asked the Western Regional Education Laboratory (REL West) to examine the relationship between spending per pupil and Nevada School Performance Framework (NSPF) index scores in the district's schools. Data were examined from three school years (2011/12, 2012/13, 2013/14) and for three types of schools…

  8. Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables in Middle School Students Following the Implementation of a School District Wellness Policy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Young, Kathleen D.; Snelling, Anastasia; Maroto, Maya; Young, Katherine A.

    2013-01-01

    Purpose/Objectives: In 2010, a large urban school district implemented a district-wide school wellness policy that addressed childhood obesity by requiring schools to increase health and physical education contact hours for students and to improve the nutritional standards of school meals. Schools were required to serve a different fruit and…

  9. Annual Estimated Minimum School Program of Utah School Districts, 1984-85.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Utah State Office of Education, Salt Lake City. School Finance and Business Section.

    This bulletin presents both the statistical and financial data of the Estimated Annual State-Supported Minimum School Program for the 40 school districts of the State of Utah for the 1984-85 school year. It is published for the benefit of those interested in research into the minimum school programs of the various Utah school districts. A brief…

  10. Promoting Children's and Adolescents' Social and Emotional Development: District Adaptations of a Theory of Action.

    PubMed

    Kendziora, Kimberly; Osher, David

    2016-01-01

    This article contributes to the broader discussion of promotion, prevention, and intervention in child and adolescent mental health by describing implementation and early outcomes of an 8-school district demonstration project aimed at making the promotion of social and emotional learning a systemic part of school districts' practice. Eight districts are 2-3 years in to their participation in the 6-year project. The districts are large, are predominantly urban, and serve many students who are at disadvantage. The evaluation involved collection of qualitative data to measure the degree to which the districts realized the goals established in the initiative's theory of action, as well as school climate data, extant student records, and surveys of students' social and emotional competence. To date, results show that districts have followed highly individual pathways toward integrating social and emotional learning systemically, and all have made progress over time. Although school-level implementation remains at moderate levels, 2 districts in which we could examine school climate showed gains from preinitiative years. Four of 6 measured districts showed improvement in social and emotional competence for students in Grade 3, and achievement and discipline showed overall improvements across all districts. Overall findings show that implementation of the initiative's theory of action by school districts is feasible, even in times of budgetary stress and leadership turnover. This establishes the potential for school districts to serve as a lever of change in the promotion of students' social and emotional development and mental wellness.

  11. Circles of Leadership: Oregon District Redefines Coaching Roles to Find a Balance between School and District Goals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Petti, Amy D.

    2010-01-01

    In this article, the author describes how an Oregon district redefines coaching roles to find a balance between school and district goals. As director of improvement for North Clackamas School District in Milwaukie, Oregon, near Portland, the author's role of coaching the coach was new, and the coaches welcomed the immediate feedback. Through the…

  12. Anchorage School District Profile of Performance, 1999-2000. Part 1 District Overview. Assessment and Evaluation Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anchorage School District, AK.

    This profile is the report card of the Anchorage, Alaska, School District on the academic achievement of Anchorage students. Part 1 provides a summary of performance across the entire district on a variety of important indicators of success. Part 2, published separately, profiles each of the district's schools. Part 1 contains an overview of the…

  13. Small Rural School District Consolidation in Texas: An Analysis of Its Impact on Cost and Student Achievement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cooley, Dwight A.; Floyd, Koy A.

    2013-01-01

    Historically, the number of public school districts in the United States has decreased despite a dramatic increase in the number of students enrolled. Although public school district consolidation has impacted districts of all sizes, since the late 1930's smaller rural districts facing dwindling community resources have merged or consolidated with…

  14. The Nation's Report Card Reading 2009 Trial Urban District Snapshot Report. Austin Independent School District. Grade 4, Public Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Center for Education Statistics, 2010

    2010-01-01

    Each district that participated in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2009 Trial Urban District Assessment in reading receives a one-page snapshot report that presents key findings and trends in a condensed format. This report presents the results for Austin Independent School District's student achievement in reading. In 2009,…

  15. The Nation's Report Card Reading 2009 Trial Urban District Snapshot Report. Austin Independent School District. Grade 8, Public Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Center for Education Statistics, 2010

    2010-01-01

    Each district that participated in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2009 Trial Urban District Assessment in reading receives a one-page snapshot report that presents key findings and trends in a condensed format. This report presents the results for Austin Independent School District's student achievement in reading. In 2009,…

  16. Rural School Busing. ERIC Digest.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Howley, Aimee; Howley, Craig

    This digest summarizes information suggesting that long bus rides are part of the hidden costs of school and district consolidation. Rural school districts spend more than twice per pupil what urban districts spend on transportation. A review of studies shows that rural school children were more likely than suburban school children to have bus…

  17. School District Effects and Efficiency. Special Report.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Swanson, Austin D.; Engert, Frank

    This paper describes efforts to develop indices of student achievement, school district effort, and school district efficiency. The challenge was to develop measures that are simple to understand, yet allow comparison among districts that are not distorted by socioeconomic differences. Measures were developed for average student achievement,…

  18. Analyzing the Cost-Effectiveness of Instruction Expenditures towards High School Completion among Oahu's Public School Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ng, Larson S. W. M.

    2011-01-01

    The following study attempted to ascertain the instructional cost-effectiveness of public high school teachers towards high school completion through a financially based econometric analysis. Essentially, public high school instruction expenditures and completer data were collected from 2000 to 2007 and bivariate interaction analyzed through a…

  19. Measurement Invariance of an Instrument Assessing Sustainability of School-Based Universal Behavior Practices

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mercer, Sterett H.; McIntosh, Kent; Strickland-Cohen, M. Kathleen; Horner, Robert H.

    2014-01-01

    Objective: The purpose of the study was to examine the extent to which the School-wide Universal Behavior Sustainability Index: School Teams (SUBSIST; McIntosh, Doolittle, Vincent, Horner, & Ervin, 2009), a measure of school and district contextual factors that promote the sustainability of school practices, demonstrated measurement invariance…

  20. Measurement Invariance of an Instrument Assessing Sustainability of School-Based Universal Behavior Practices

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mercer, Sterett H.; McIntosh, Kent; Strickland-Cohen, M. Kathleen; Horner, Robert H.

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of the study was to examine the extent to which the School-Wide Universal Behavior Sustainability Index: School Teams (SUBSIST; McIntosh, Doolittle, Vincent, Horner, & Ervin, 2009), a measure of school and district contextual factors that promote the sustainability of school practices, demonstrated measurement invariance across…

  1. The Effect of a Zoo-Based Experiential Academic Science Program on High School Students' Math and Science Achievement and Perceptions of School Climate

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mulkerrin, Elizabeth A.

    The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of an 11th-grade and 12th-grade zoo-based academic high school experiential science program compared to a same school-district school-based academic high school experiential science program on students' pretest and posttest science, math, and reading achievement, and student perceptions of program relevance, rigor, and relationships. Science coursework delivery site served as the study's independent variable for the two naturally formed groups representing students (n = 18) who completed a zoo-based experiential academic high school science program and students (n = 18) who completed a school-based experiential academic high school science program. Students in the first group, a zoo-based experiential academic high school science program, completed real world, hands-on projects at the zoo while students in the second group, those students who completed a school-based experiential academic high school science program, completed real world, simulated projects in the classroom. These groups comprised the two research arms of the study. Both groups of students were selected from the same school district. The study's two dependent variables were achievement and school climate. Achievement was analyzed using norm-referenced 11th-grade pretest PLAN and 12th-grade posttest ACT test composite scores. Null hypotheses were rejected in the direction of improved test scores for both science program groups---students who completed the zoo-based experiential academic high school science program (p < .001) and students who completed the school-based experiential academic high school science program (p < .001). The posttest-posttest ACT test composite score comparison was not statistically different ( p = .93) indicating program equipoise for students enrolled in both science programs. No overall weighted grade point average score improvement was observed for students in either science group, however, null hypotheses were rejected in the direction of improved science grade point average scores for 11th-grade (p < .01) and 12th-grade (p = .01) students who completed the zoo-based experiential academic high school science program. Null hypotheses were not rejected for between group posttest science grade point average scores and school district criterion reference math and reading test scores. Finally, students who completed the zoo-based experiential academic high school science program had statistically improved pretest-posttest perceptions of program relationship scores (p < .05) and compared to students who completed the school-based experiential academic high school science program had statistically greater posttest perceptions of program relevance (p < .001), perceptions of program rigor (p < .001), and perceptions of program relationships (p < .001).

  2. School-based mass distributions of mebendazole to control soil-transmitted helminthiasis in the Munshiganj and Lakshmipur districts of Bangladesh: an evaluation of the treatment monitoring process and knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the population.

    PubMed

    Hafiz, Israt; Berhan, Meklit; Keller, Angela; Haq, Rouseli; Chesnaye, Nicholas; Koporc, Kim; Rahman, Mujibur; Rahman, Shamsur; Mathieu, Els

    2015-01-01

    Bangladesh's national deworming program targets school-age children (SAC) through bi-annual school-based distributions of mebendazole. Qualitative and quantitative methods were applied to identify challenges related to treatment monitoring within the Munshiganj and Lakshmipur Districts of Bangladesh. Key stakeholder interviews identified several obstacles for successful treatment monitoring within these districts; ambiguity in defining the target population, variances in the methods used for compiling and reporting treatment data, and a general lack of financial and human resources. A treatment coverage cluster survey revealed that bi-annual primary school-based distributions proved to be an effective strategy in reaching school-attending SAC, with rates between 63.0% and 73.3%. However, the WHO target of regular treatment of at least 75% of SAC has yet to be reached. Particularly low coverage was seen amongst non-school attending children (11.4-14.3%), most likely due to the lack of national policy to effectively target this vulnerable group. Survey findings on water and sanitation coverage were impressive with the majority of households and schools having access to latrines (98.6-99.3%) and safe drinking water (98.2-100%). The challenge now for the Bangladesh control program is to achieve the WHO target of regular treatment of at least 75% of SAC at risk, irrespective of school-enrollment status. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Analysis of Core Questions in the Theory-Practice Gap.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hawley, Steve; Branch, Jan

    Problems arising from a state mandate that school-based and college- or university-based teacher education programs be cooperatively developed are examined. The following issues raised from the school district perspective are considered: (1) What mechanisms will be established to insure ongoing communication between college and field-based staff?…

  4. Advocacy for Quality School Health Education: The Role of Public Health Educators as Professionals and Community Members

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Birch, David A.; Priest, Hannah M.; Mitchell, Qshequilla P.

    2015-01-01

    Advocacy at the local school or school district level has received emphasis as a strategy for improving school health education. The involvement of health educators in advocacy for school health education has been described as "imperative" at all levels of school-based policy. Allensworth's 2010 Society for Public Health Education…

  5. Exploring multi-level system factors facilitating educator training and implementation of evidence-based practices (EBP): a study protocol.

    PubMed

    Stahmer, Aubyn C; Suhrheinrich, Jessica; Schetter, Patricia L; McGee Hassrick, Elizabeth

    2018-01-08

    This study examines how system-wide (i.e., region, district, and school) mechanisms such as leadership support, training requirements, structure, collaboration, and education affect the use of evidence-based practices (EBPs) in schools and how this affects the outcomes for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Despite growing evidence for the positive effects of EBPs for ASD, these practices are not consistently or effectively used in schools. Although special education programs are mandated to use EBPs, there are very few evidence-based methods for selecting, implementing, and sustaining EBPs. Research focuses primarily on teacher training, without attention to contextual factors (e.g., implementation climate, attitudes toward EBPs, resource allocation, and social networks) that may impact outcomes. Using an implementation science framework, this project will prospectively examine relations between system-wide factors and teachers' use of EBPs and student education outcomes. Survey data will be collected from approximately 85 regional special education directors, 170 regional program specialists, 265 district special education directors, 265 behavior specialists, 925 school principals, 3538 special education teachers, and 2700 paraprofessionals. Administrative data for the students with ASD served by participating teachers will be examined. A total of 79 regional-, district-, and school-level personnel will also participate in social network interviews. Mixed methods, including surveys, administrative data, and observational checklists, will be used to gather in-depth information about system-wide malleable factors that relate to positive teacher implementation of EBPs and student outcomes. Multi-level modeling will be used to assess system-wide malleable factors related to EBP implementation which will be linked to the trainer, teacher, and student outcomes and examined based on moderators (e.g., district size, Special Education Local Plan Area structure, teachers' ASD experience). Finally, a dynamic social network approach will be used to map EBP-related connectivity across all levels of the system for selected regions. Dynamic network analysis will be used to gauge the degree to which and ways that EBP trainings, resources, and interventions are shared (or not shared) among school staff. Results are expected to inform the development of system-wide interventions to improve the school-based implementation of EBPs for students with ASD.

  6. Challenges of Asthma Management for School Nurses in Districts with High Asthma Hospitalization Rates

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liberatos, Penny; Leone, Jennifer; Craig, Ann Marie; Frei, Elizabeth Mary; Fuentes, Natalie; Harris, India Marie

    2013-01-01

    Background: School nurses play a central role in assisting elementary school children in managing their asthma, especially those in higher-risk school districts that are at increased risk of uncontrolled asthma. Study purposes are to (1) identify barriers to asthma management by school nurses in higher-risk school districts; and (2) assess the…

  7. Community and School Characteristics and Voter Behavior in Ohio Rural School District Property Tax Elections.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baker, Matt; McCracken, J. David

    This study explores the relationships between the percentage of successful property tax issues and community and school characteristics in rural school districts in Ohio. Data were obtained for 74 rural school districts between 1984 and 1988; sources were government statistics and a questionnaire survey of school principals. The dependent variable…

  8. Private Management of Public Schools: Early Experiences in Four School Districts. Report to Congressional Committees.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    General Accounting Office, Washington, DC. Health, Education, and Human Services Div.

    School districts nationwide are experimenting with a range of reform options, one of which is private management of public schools. This General Accounting Office (GAO) report describes the early experiences of four school districts that contracted with private companies for management of their public schools. Specifically, the report describes:…

  9. Ohio School & District Results, 2013-2014

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ross, Richard A.

    2014-01-01

    The 2014 Ohio School Report Card grades schools on more measures, offering Ohioans an even clearer picture of how well their schools and districts are doing. With its new data, this year's report card shows parents where their schools need to improve. It includes grades of A through F for up to nine measures, depending on the school or district.…

  10. Reinventing School: Becoming a District of Choices. Michigan's Schools of Innovation // Berrien Springs Public Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Van Beek, Michael

    2013-01-01

    In this latest installment of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy's new "Schools of Innovation" series, we discuss how Berrien Springs school district is reinventing public school. This study examines how the district has become more racially diverse, enrollment is growing rapidly, and they are using that growth to inject some much…

  11. The Effects of Cluster-Based Mentoring Programme on Classroom Teaching Practices: Lessons from Pakistan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rizvi, Meher; Nagy, Philip

    2016-01-01

    This paper presents and evaluates a teacher training approach called the cluster-based mentoring programme (CBMP) for the professional development of government primary school teachers in Pakistan. The study sought to find differences in the teaching practices between districts where the CBMP was used (intervention) and control districts where it…

  12. Perceptions of State-Funded, School District-Based Principal Preparation Programs in Virginia 2004-2006

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kirk, Kathryn Gordy

    2010-01-01

    The mixed methods case study described and analyzed the 2004-2006 district-based principal preparation programs in Virginia. This dissertation explored goals stated in proposals for funding as well as program director and program completer perceptions of goals, content, processes, and outcomes for the 10 principal preparation programs that stemmed…

  13. Site-Based Management in a Collective Bargaining Environment: Can We Mix Oil and Water?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fossey, Richard

    Site-based management has become a popular school reform strategy. However, conflicts can arise when school districts with collective bargaining try to implement site-based management. Site-based management depends on collaboration and cooperation among educators, both of which conflict with collective bargaining's adversarial nature. There is…

  14. 14 CFR 141.25 - Business office and operations base.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Business office and operations base. 141.25... operations base. (a) Each holder of a pilot school or a provisional pilot school certificate must maintain a... or the operations base, each certificate holder must notify the FAA Flight Standards District Office...

  15. 14 CFR 141.25 - Business office and operations base.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Business office and operations base. 141.25... operations base. (a) Each holder of a pilot school or a provisional pilot school certificate must maintain a... or the operations base, each certificate holder must notify the FAA Flight Standards District Office...

  16. 14 CFR 141.25 - Business office and operations base.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Business office and operations base. 141.25... operations base. (a) Each holder of a pilot school or a provisional pilot school certificate must maintain a... or the operations base, each certificate holder must notify the FAA Flight Standards District Office...

  17. 14 CFR 141.25 - Business office and operations base.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Business office and operations base. 141.25... operations base. (a) Each holder of a pilot school or a provisional pilot school certificate must maintain a... or the operations base, each certificate holder must notify the FAA Flight Standards District Office...

  18. Beyond Choice to New Public Schools: Withdrawing the Exclusive Franchise in Public Education. Policy Report No. 8.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kolderie, Ted

    A strategy for revitalizing public education by stimulating the creation of new public schools is proposed in this report. The proposed system goes beyond school choice and is based on the withdrawal of local districts' exclusive franchise to own and operate public schools. The proposal is based on the premise that the state must provide both…

  19. The Peat Marwick/AS&U Compensation Survey for School Executives.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    American School and University, 1986

    1986-01-01

    A total of 396 districts responded from all 50 states and the District of Columbia to this survey about administrative positions, with full-time teachers as a comparison point, in the areas of base salaries, bonuses, benefits, and perquisites. (MLF)

  20. In the Round: Supporting Teachers' Authentic Professional Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Strand, Matt

    2013-01-01

    This is a study of teachers' authentic professional learning at a public school in Poudre School District in northern Colorado. At Polaris Expeditionary Learning School, teachers and administrators have developed a form of school-based instructional rounds referred to herein as PLC rounds (professional learning community rounds). In PLC rounds,…

  1. School Finance Adequacy: What Is It and How Do We Measure It?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Picus, Lawrence O.

    2001-01-01

    Discusses legal definition of school-finance "adequacy" and four methods for determining the cost of an adequate system: Cost function, observational methods, professional judgment, and costs of a comprehensive school design. Draws implications for school districts' resource-allocation decisions based on adequacy. (Contains 21 references.) (PKP)

  2. Teacher Views on School Administrators' Organizational Power Sources and Their Change Management Behaviours

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Argon, Türkan; Dilekçi, Ümit

    2016-01-01

    This study aimed to determine school administrators' organizational power sources and change management behaviours based on Bolu central district primary and secondary school teachers' views. The study conducted with relational screening model reached 286 teachers. School Administrators' Organizational Power Sources Scale and Change Management…

  3. Budgeting Based on Results

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cooper, Kelt L.

    2011-01-01

    Every program in a school or school district has, or once had, a purpose. The purpose was most likely promoted, argued and debated among school constituencies--parents, teachers, administrators and school board members--before it was eventually approved. This process occurs year after year, budget after budget. In itself, this is not necessarily a…

  4. Interdisciplinary Collaboration Supporting Social-Emotional Learning in Rural School Systems

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Meyers, Adena B.; Tobin, Renée M.; Huber, Brenda J.; Conway, Dawn E.; Shelvin, Kristal H.

    2015-01-01

    In this article we illustrate the roles of school psychologists, administrators, social workers, teachers, and parents in school reform by describing the adoption, initial implementation, and formative evaluation of an evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL) program within several rural Midwestern school districts in a geographically…

  5. School Socioeconomic Classification, Funding, and the New Jersey High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bao, D. H.; Romeo, George C.; Harvey, Roberta

    2010-01-01

    This study examines the relationship between educational effectiveness, as measured by the New Jersey High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), and funding of school districts based on socioeconomic classification. Results indicate there is a strong relationship between performance in HSPA, socioeconomic classification, and the different sources…

  6. Improving School Effectiveness by Teaching Thinking Skills.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zenke, Larry L.

    This paper describes a plan to improve school effectiveness in the Tulsa (Oklahoma) Public Schools by incorporating instruction in thinking skills. The program selected by the school district was the Strategic Reasoning Program, based on Albert Upton's Design for Thinking and J. P. Guilford's Structure of the Intellect. The Strategic Reasoning…

  7. An Analysis of the New Jersey Public School District School Bond Referendum Process: A Historical Case Study of the Egg Harbor Township School District Bond Referendum of 2004-05

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Werner, Michael J.

    2012-01-01

    This dissertation presents a historical case study of the Egg Harbor Township School District bond referendum that passed with an exceptionally high 92 percent of votes in January 2005. The methodology used in this study resulted in both an examination of the components of the New Jersey Public School District bond referendum process as well as an…

  8. The Motivators That Contribute to the Migration of African American Educators from Suburban School Districts to Urban School Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McGary, Ostrova Dewayne

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the perceived motivators contributing African American educators' decision to migrate from a suburban school district to an urban school district. The case study approach was used in an effort to capture the participants' voices and the motivators contributing to their decision to migrate to an…

  9. Use of Data to Support Teaching and Learning: A Case Study of Two School Districts. ACT Research Report Series, 2015 (1)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dougherty, Chrys

    2015-01-01

    This report summarizes how school and district leaders and academic coaches in two Texas school districts used assessment and other types of data to assess the quality of teaching and learning, to coach and supervise teachers, and to guide management decisions. The report also describes how district and school leaders supported teachers' use of…

  10. Diffusion of an effective tobacco prevention program. Part II: Evaluation of the adoption phase.

    PubMed

    Parcel, G S; O'Hara-Tompkins, N M; Harrist, R B; Basen-Engquist, K M; McCormick, L K; Gottlieb, N H; Eriksen, M P

    1995-09-01

    This paper presents the results of theory-based intervention strategies to increase the adoption of a tobacco prevention program. The adoption intervention followed a series of dissemination intervention strategies targeted at 128 school districts in Texas. Informed by Social Cognitive Theory, the intervention provided opportunities for districts to learn about and model themselves after 'successful' school districts that had adopted the program, and to see the potential for social reinforcement through the knowledge that the program had the potential to have an important influence on students' lives. The proportion of districts in the Intervention condition that adopted the program was significantly greater than in the Comparison condition (P < 0.001). Stepwise logistic regression indicated that the variables most closely related to adoption among intervention districts were teacher attitudes toward the innovation and organizational considerations of administrators. Recommendations for the development of effective strategies for the diffusion of innovations are presented.

  11. Identifying and Investigating the "Best" Schools: A Network-Based Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Joshi, Priyadarshani

    2018-01-01

    This paper aims to provide a fresh perspective on the predominantly negative discourse on schooling quality in low-income countries by focusing on the research questions: "How can one identify great schools and what makes them special?" Using a network-based perspective, I measure peer evaluations of quality in two districts in Nepal.…

  12. The Political Effects of Site-Based Decision Making on Local School Governance in the State of Texas.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lutz, Frank W.; Iden, Robert M.

    As Texas public schools undertake their third year of implementing site-based decision making (SBDM), it becomes increasingly important to examine the extent to which SBDM has achieved its purported goals. This paper examined how Texas public school districts might effect mandated governance changes through the political phenomenon known as…

  13. Much Ado about Very Little: The Benefits and Costs of School-Based Commercial Activities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brent, Brian O.; Lunden, Stephen

    2009-01-01

    School-based commercialism exists whenever a district enters into a relationship with a business that provides access to students or staff in exchange for fiscal or in-kind resources (i.e., goods or services). The practice includes business sponsorship of school activities (e.g., sporting events), exclusive agreements (e.g., pouring rights…

  14. Gender Expression, Violence, and Bullying Victimization: Findings from Probability Samples of High School Students in 4 US School Districts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gordon, Allegra R.; Conron, Kerith J.; Calzo, Jerel P.; White, Matthew T.; Reisner, Sari L.; Austin, S. Bryn

    2018-01-01

    Background: Young people may experience school-based violence and bullying victimization related to their gender expression, independent of sexual orientation identity. However, the associations between gender expression and bullying and violence have not been examined in racially and ethnically diverse population-based samples of high school…

  15. Formative Assessment for Middle School Mathematics Instruction: An Evidence-Based Approach to Evaluating Teacher Posing, Pausing, and Probing Moves

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Holmberg, Carrie

    2017-01-01

    This study involved empirical investigation of a moves-based conceptualization of teacher practices of planning, enacting, and reflecting on formative assessment (FA) in mathematics classrooms in a high-needs school district in California. A qualitative case study of six middle school mathematics teachers' practices of "posing"…

  16. A Formative Evaluation of Healthy Habits, Healthy U: A Collaborative School-Based Cancer Education Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anderson, Alicia; Spear, Caile; Pritchard, Mary; George, Kayla; Young, Kyle; Smith, Carrie

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: Healthy Habits, Healthy U (HHHU) is a two-day school-based primary prevention cancer education program that uses interactive classroom presentations designed to help students learn how to reduce their cancer risks. HHHU is a collaboration between a local cancer hospital, school district and university. HHHU incorporates real cancerous and…

  17. Partnerships Between K-12 Schools and Universities: Who Benefits?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Regens, N.; Hall-Wallace, M. K.

    2001-05-01

    Collaborations between K-12 schools and universities for the purpose of improving science education are growing in number, but many question their effectiveness. After many years of outreach to local teachers, schools and districts, we have developed a collaboration that more effectively addresses school district goals and needs while providing university faculty and graduate students with real opportunities to contribute to science education in the schools. Funded by the NSF GK-12 program, we are working directly with school district curriculum specialists and classroom teachers to implement inquiry-based science investigations. Projects range from developing long-term research projects in middle and high school classrooms to assisting K-6 teachers in using kit-based science curriculum. As part of our program, we have gathered several types of data to document the impact of our efforts. Using surveys of knowledge and attitudes, we measured significant improvements in college student's knowledge and attitudes about inquiry teaching methods and the K-12 education system. Through analysis of the college student's journals, we have also documented critical elements of an effective collaboration. These journals, combined with evaluations by classroom teachers, provide evidence of how the program impacts the graduate students professionally. We have also surveyed classroom teachers to measure the impact of the college students on their attitudes about teaching science and the long-term impact of the collaboration on their classroom teaching.

  18. The Impact of a State Takeover on Academic Achievement, School Performance, and School Leadership in a Rural South Carolina School District

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bishop, Janice Zissette

    2009-01-01

    This case study on the impact of a state takeover in one of South Carolina's most rural school districts ("referred to as the County School District") was completed using a quasi-experimental mixed methods design to examine the impact on academic achievement, school performance, and school leadership as a result of the South Carolina…

  19. Investigating the Impact of the Cisco 21st Century Schools Initiative on Forrest County School District. Summative Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ba, Harouna; Meade, Terri; Pierson, Elizabeth; Ferguson, Camille; Roy, Amanda; Williams, Hakim

    2009-01-01

    Located in southern Mississippi, the Forrest County School District (FCSD) consists of six schools: three K-6 elementary schools, two K-8 elementary-middle schools, and one high school (grades 9-12), all of which have been involved in the Cisco Initiative since its inception. The district employed 16 administrators, 7 technology staff members, and…

  20. The Role of School District Science Coordinators in the District-Wide Appropriation of an Online Resource Discovery and Sharing Tool for Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Victor R.; Leary, Heather M.; Sellers, Linda; Recker, Mimi

    2014-01-01

    When introducing and implementing a new technology for science teachers within a school district, we must consider not only the end users but also the roles and influence district personnel have on the eventual appropriation of that technology. School districts are, by their nature, complex systems with multiple individuals at different levels in…

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