The U.S. Department of Education: Office of Innovation and Improvement2004
Behind these clunky titles you'll find a pair of first-rate "handbooks" from the U.S. Department of Education, intended to assist public school systems to implement NCLB's two main "choice" elements: the one intended to give children in "needs-improvement" schools the option of attending better-performing public schools, and the one that enables parents to select among providers of Title I tutoring services for their children. Prepared by WestEd for the Department's Office of Innovation and Improvement, each is 50 to 60 pages long, each profiles a handful of districts that are doing this well, and each provides ample practical advice. They're apparently intended for willing but clueless district officials, but they include information that's also apt to benefit state officials, local educators, charter operators, supplemental-services providers, journalists, ordinary parents, and anyone still confused as to how these NCLB components are meant to work. You can order hard copies by emailing [email protected] or surfing to www.edpubs.org. You can also find them online at http://www.ed.gov/admins/comm/choice/choiceprograms/index.html and http://www.ed.gov/admins/comm/suppsvcs/sesprograms/index.html.
