Download or read book The Role of State Departments of Education in Comprehensive School Reform. Benchmark. Volume 5, Issue 2, Spring 2004 written by Edmund T. Hamann and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: States have the legal responsibility and authority to provide public education for their citizens. How each state fulfills its responsibility varies. Whether state education agencies (SEAs) are supporting school reform efforts, providing technical assistance, defining and controlling educational content, or assessing the outcomes of education, it is generally agreed that SEAs are there to assure that districts and schools are providing quality opportunities to children, and in a manner that meets the standards the state has set for achievement. This document addresses some of the specific ways SEAs set out to accomplish these goals. This document looks closely at the initiation and early management of the federal comprehensive school reform (CSR) program by the Maine and Puerto Rico Departments of Education (MEDOE and PRDOE). This issue of the National Clearinghouse for Comprehensive School Reform's quarterly newsletter contains the following sections: (1) Introduction; (2) The Case of Maine; (3) The Case of Puerto Rico; (4) The Real World of SEA Practice: Implications for Scale-up, Sustainability, and Effectiveness; and (5) Conclusion.