A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

Educational Programs That Work - 1995

Foreword

The passage of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act in 1994 opened a new frontier of opportunities for states and local education agencies to improve the teaching and learning of all children. Under this landmark legislation, more than 40 states have already applied to the U.S. Department of Education for funding to develop long-range improvement plans with systemic reform strategies promoting change at the local level. Central to this concept of systemic reform of education is coordinated change in the whole education system - particularly with respect to high standards for all students, content-rich curriculum, performance assessment, and professional development for teachers.

This message of change in American education implies a need for innovative education programs that work and for trained assistance in making sure that bright ideas are easily adapted by teachers and students. The U.S. Department of Education's National Diffusion Network (NDN) assists public and private educational institutions in sharing exemplary programs, products, and processes.

Two things distinguish the NDN as a dissemination system: a rigorous procedure for validating the effectiveness of educational programs and a person-to-person support system to assist teachers using NDN programs. The Department's Program Effectiveness Panel judges the evidence of program effectiveness and admits projects to the NDN. What makes the spread of these programs so compelling is NDN's person-to-person dissemination system implemented by state facilitators, program developers, and locally based certified trainers.

There are nineteen new programs in the NDN this year with topics ranging from comprehensive technology planning for schools to a new model for teaching and learning electricity to literacy and more. These new programs along with the other NDN programs described in this directory strive to sustain the imagination required by good ideas, to refresh the research contributing to those ideas, and to deepen the discussion with teachers using NDN programs.

Luna Levinson
Acting Director
National Diffusion Network
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[National Dissemination Association]