Acknowledgments--State Education Indicators with a Focus on Title I

The Council received valuable contributions from many organizations and individuals in preparing the 2000 State Education Indicators report. We consider the report a collaborative effort.

We received strong support from chief state school officers, state assessment directors, and state Title I directors for the idea of a 50-state report profiling key statewide education indicators and indicators of progress of Title I programs. States provided excellent cooperation in reporting not only the state assessment data required under Title I, but also further details about state assessment programs and student demographics that provide the context for analyzing assessment results. State education staff carefully reviewed the data in the state profiles and provided important suggestions for improving the report, and we thank them for their continued assistance which make the profiles possible.

Funding support for the State Education Indicators report was provided under a task order from the U.S. Department of Education, Planning and Evaluation Service. We very much appreciate the guidance and assistance provided by staff in the Planning and Evaluation Service, including Daphne Hardcastle, Meredith Miller, and Elois Scott, as well as staff in the Office of Compensatory Education Programs, including Chuck Laster, Mary Moran, and Zollie Stephenson. The National Center for Education Statistics provided access to data files from the Common Core of Data, NAEP, and Schools and Staffing Survey, and we particularly thank John Sietsema for his assistance. The database for the state profiles was developed in collaboration with Westat, Inc., and we appreciate the efforts of Beth Sinclair, Nina Blecher, and Babette Gutmann in data collection and project support.

The design files were originally created by Anastasia Miller. The data were proofed by Doreen Langesen, Abigail Potts, and Andra Williams. The state assessment directors reviewed the profiles and proofed the state assessment data. The EIAC subcommittee on assessment, co-chaired by Sally Tiel (Idaho) and Louis Fabrizio (North Carolina), reviewed the design.

An expert advisory panel guided CCSSO in selecting the indicators as well assisting in refining the report design. The panel members are: Wes Bruce (Indiana), Helmuts Feifs (North Carolina), Steve Fleishman (Education Quality Institute), Ellen Forte-Fast (American Institutes for Research), Mike Garet (American Institutes for Research), Paula Girouard (Massachusetts), Christine Padilla (SRI), Gerald Richardson (Florida), Beth Sinclair (Westat), Richard Wenning (New American Schools), Carole White (Delaware), and Phoebe Winter (CCSSO).