Proposes questions that can be raised by principals evaluating the character and effectiveness of their high schools. Suggests studying the nature of daily school operations, the school program, the school's structure and schedule, student activities, staff quality, guidance services, off-campus learning opportunities, administration, and school…

Skillfully interviewing students can elicit useful information about the quality of the educational program. (JM)

Staff development is the key to middle school effectiveness, and this article lists characteristics of an effective staff development program, examples of activities and topics, and questions for program evaluation. (DCS)

Written to help educators maximize student learning, this publication outlines a process for designing and implementing an improvement and restructuring plan based on knowledge acquisition, needs assessment, indepth planning, and development of commitment to change. Research has identified 14 conditions for successful schools: high attendance,…

This workshop proceedings presents summaries of the presentations of four speakers and recommends criteria and measures for determining institutional effectiveness. After introductory comments on the sponsorship and format of the workshop, the paper highlights the major points made by Carol Boyer, who reviewed recent research and other efforts…

Defines, illustrates, and evaluates three approaches to home-school collaboration: School to Home Transmission, Interactive Learning; and Partnership for School Success. Discusses pitfalls to avoid. (DM)

This manual provides suggestions for implementing a school improvement process using selected program and content areas from the Michigan State Board of Education-approved K-12 Program Standards of Quality. The suggestions were made by school district staffs that took part in the field test of the document during the 1983-84 school year. The first…

Whether by state mandate, institutional initiative, or the requirements of accrediting bodies, community colleges and other institutions of higher education are giving increased attention to assessment and evaluation. In the region accredited by the Middle States Association (MSA) of Colleges and Schools, for example, several community colleges…

Essential to the definition of an effective school is an operational definition of minimum academic mastery as the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and concepts that enable the student to be demonstrably successful in the next grade level in the same school or in any other school in the United States. An effective schools program, such as the one…

Reviews the reasons for conducting institutional assessments regardless of college size. Identifies the elements of institutional effectiveness and translates them into six questions with quantifiable answers, which when tallied produce an overall assessment of program effectiveness. (DMM)

The final report describes a Colorado project to evaluate the effectiveness of special education programming based on student outcomes and program quality indicators in 14 secondary schools. Major findings included: special education students, especially students with emotional/behavioral disabilities, had higher absence and out-of-school…

Teacher and administrator responses to the Connecticut School Interview, conducted as part of the Spencerport (New York) More Effective Schools/Teaching Project, indicate that there are a number of correlates which can be considered areas of strength, and that steady improvement has occurred in installing correlates in each building and in…

This topical synthesis addresses the problematic issue of whether the techniques, processes, and procedures that generally result in effective, high-quality education will also achieve results with at-risk youth. After an extended introduction that raises this question, the key characteristics of effective schools are specified as leadership, a…

Students' standardized test scores do little to gauge school program effectiveness. This article suggests that improving the data for monitoring schools, accounting for schools' varying financial picture, and relating outcomes to features capable of being changed will enhance program evaluation and school management. Some state efforts in this…

This report from St. Louis Community College (Missouri) provides an update of the college's activities and outcomes in accordance with the North Central Association's (NCA) standards for institutional effectiveness. It also outlines the college's assessment operations for the next five years, identifying specific activities to develop the…