Head Start has long focused on assessing and improving program quality to ensure that the children served receive the best possible preparation for school and life. Most research has been focused inside the classroom--the classroom environment, teacher qualifications, and teacher interactions. Of course, the classroom is important because that is…

The U.S. Department of Education's Policy to Performance project was funded in 2009 to build the capacity of state adult basic education (ABE) staff to develop and implement policies and practices that would support an ABE transition system. Policy to Performance states were selected though a competitive process. State adult education directors…

To stem the tide of students dropping out, many schools and districts are turning to early warning systems (EWS) that signal whether a student is at risk of not graduating from high school. While some research exists about establishing these systems, there is little information about the actual implementation strategies that are being used across…

Children classified as emotionally disturbed constitute a most challenging and expensive population in the public schools. This article presents a tri-part model of barriers to program design, implementation, and evaluation for children classified as emotionally disturbed in public school settings. An examination of the available school-based…

This technical report is from a study that assessed effective content-English-as-a-Second-Language (content-ESL) programs across the United States, from pre-kindergarten through grade 12. The study was undertaken to develop a descriptive analysis of the nature and scope of these programs and the relationship between program policies and practices…

This report is intended to stimulate inquiry into the achievement of special groups of students in Alberta schools and model reporting to the public on these students, a traditionally weak area of school board Annual Education Results reports. The data in the report provide provincial level comparisons to data that may be compiled by school…

Nine teachers in programs serving school-aged children or adults with severe disabilities received training on applying rules in data-based instructional decisions. After one-two years of implementation, the teachers' decision making and the effect of these decisions on student progress were evaluated. Some support was found for the benefit of…

This paper presents principles that should be considered in planning and interpreting studies of outcomes of interventions with children receiving mental health services. Principles to consider when planning outcome studies include recognizing that "outcome" refers to multiple rather than single domains and choosing outcome domains that…

Guidance is provided for state Chapter 2 coordinators and evaluators in designing and implementing the congressionally mandated evaluation of the effectiveness of the Chapter 2 program. The first part of this paper reviews the congressional mandate and discusses the appropriate audience for evaluation reports. A schedule is outlined for conducting…

This booklet is designed to assist beginning and experienced teachers in public and private vocational education programs in evaluating the performance of present and past students as a means of gaining insight into the effectiveness of vocational programming and instruction. Discussed first are issues and procedures involved in process and…

Papers in this volume are: "National funding for the New Hampshire Limited-English-Proficient (LEP) Student Identification Project. Through this program, states are mandated to collect information on LEP students and report data to the U.S. Secretary of Education. This report is intended to highlight the growth of the project over the past 3…

This manual was developed to provide a model for evaluating programs for handicapped preschoolers that can be used by all Maryland school districts regardless of size or resources. The model has five components: (1) how children are identified as handicapped; (2) what type of testing takes place before and after a child is placed in a program; (3)…

Describes microcomputer use in an introductory sociology course. Augments course objectives with tutorials on test items. Evaluates computer integration with an experimental design comparing traditional and computerized sociology courses. Finds the computerized group outperforms the traditional group. Suggests students of all ability levels…

On account of concern about declining achievement levels of high school graduates and proposed state legislation increasing graduation requirements to address this concern, this report analyzes current and proposed high school graduation requirements in Illinois, based on data compiled from local school documents, and compares the data to…

A research project was conducted to develop an advanced child care administration course teaching microcomputer utilization for child care administrators. After a technical advisory committee generated and prioritized a list of tasks typically performed by child care administrators, a tentative course overview was developed. Eighteen of the 24…