Office of Planning and Service Coordination

Topical Summaries

Educational planning and policy reports and links brought to you by the Planning and Service Coordination Office of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.

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AYP Restructuring Looms in Northwest Title I Schools (November 2005)

When the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 was amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), a set of sanctions of increasing severity was imposed on Title I schools that do not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Schools that fail to make AYP for two, three and four years in a row are required to develop improvement plans, offer school choice and make available supplemental educational services.

Principal Leadership for Accountability: Optimizing the Use of Title II Resources (June 2005)

In the swirling wake of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, a vortex of educational changes now affects the way public educators at all levels conduct daily business. School principals, in particular, find themselves in a relentless public spotlight as they are held accountable for student achievement. This new accountability, of course, is measured by adequate yearly progress (AYP) requirements—coupled with increasingly stiff sanctions if all student subgroups do not meet established goals.

Developing Self-Directed Learners (December 2004)

Self-directed learners have the skills to access and process the information they need for a specific purpose. Self-directed learning integrates self-management (management of the context, including social setting, resources, and actions) with self-monitoring (the process whereby learners monitor, evaluate, and regulate their cognitive learning strategies).

This Topical Summary looks at current research on several aspects of developing self-directed learners: Defining who is a self-directed learner ; Teaching or helping students to become self-directed learners; Creating school environments that nurture self-directed learning within standards-based accountability systems; and How implementing state-level policies can assist schools in their efforts to become centers of high achievement and incubators for self-directed learners.

Making Sense of Adequate Yearly Progress (July 2004)

Now that much of the initial AYP data have been collected and analyzed, what do they tell us? The Education Trust, a national advocacy and research organization, concludes that "the system is doing what it was meant to do: shining a bright light on the state of achievement in America, identifying schools that need improvement, and allowing us to take important steps toward closing achievement gaps and having all students proficient in reading and math over the coming decades." Besides providing consistent goals that apply to all schools and all students within each state, the Education Trust believes the AYP reports show that "demography is not destiny, that schools educating large numbers of low income and minority students are capable of not only meeting state standards for achievement, but vastly exceeding them."

Evaluating Supplemental Educational Service Providers: Issues and Challenges (February 2004)

Under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, schools or local education agencies that haven't made adequate yearly progress (AYP) for three or more consecutive years must provide supplemental educational services to eligible students. In the Northwest region, each state has successfully complied with this requirement. However, the states now face the challenge of monitoring and evaluating their supplemental service providers.The law allows flexibility in designing and implementing this process, but developing a set of successful practices is just the beginning. Ensuring that eligible students measurably benefit from supplemental educational services will require states to be innovative in fulfilling their responsibility.

Challenges and Opportunities of NCLB for Small, Rural, and Isolated Schools (June 2003)

Sometimes, opportunity comes cloaked in disguise. That could very well be the case for small, rural, and isolated schools that are grappling with the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001. Despite calls for waivers and real concerns about the costs and logistics of the law, school administrators and teachers are attempting to rise to the challenge.

Parental Involvement under the New Title I and Title III: From Compliance to Effective Practice (October 2002)

The 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), entitled the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), represents a notable shift in the expected role of parental involvement in the schools. It includes new provisions increasing parental notification requirements, parental selection of educational options, and parental involvement in governance. The new law envisions parents not only as participants, but also as informed and empowered decisionmakers in their children's education.

School, District, and State Report Cards: Living Documents for Public Discourse (March 2002)

President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act requires schools, districts, and states to publish annual report cards for the public. These report cards are intended to drive decisionmaking and ensure accountability in school reform. The challenge for educators is to create workable tools—documents that are practical and meaningful in the real world of public education.

Public Education in the Northwest: Achievements of the Past Decade (June 2001)

Educators from the teacher, administrator, and school board associations of the five Northwest states joined with the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) to highlight the achievements of the public schools in preparing children and youth for a successful and fulfilling life, and to note the significant participation of the associations in these endeavors. This summary is a way of sharing the practices deemed effective by the associations, and of offering them as resources for others.

Content last updated: 3/5/2008