Effective evidence-based action requires getting the right data into the right hands at the right time to help make decisions. The Data Quality Campaign (2011) has provided suggestions to state education agencies for effectively using data within state longitudinal data systems. One suggestion is to identify "the variety of ways available…

The evaluation of federal programs such as the migrant education program causes a dilemma for state education agencies. The law places the prime responsibility for establishing, and accounting for, quality programs on state and local education agencies. However, no explicit directive requires that this be done in a uniform manner. A lack of…

Federal education policy preferences of the Reagan Administration include both procedural and substantive elements. The overarching procedural policy is devolution--the transfer of the authority and responsibility for education policy and program development from the federal to state and local levels. Federal activities intended to advance…

An increased proportion of Chapter 1 budgets across the country have been directed to the purchase of microcomputer hardware and software. A major reason for this expenditure has been the promise of better instruction, or at least more instruction for Chapter 1 students, without additional staff resources. Although evidence for instructional…

The changing nature of technical assistance activities and evaluation for compensatory education programs was discussed. The emphasis is on the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA) Chapter 1 Technical Assistance Centers (TAC) and their clients. Improvement of school practices demands that the technical assistance process be developed…

This paper describes an evaluation model developed by the Ontario Ministry of Education and illustrates how it was adapted to meet local and provincial needs of the Scarborough School System for accountability data and direction for change. The basic Cooperative Evaluation and Development of School Systems (CEDSS) model includes five stages of…

Program improvement activities can be classified into four categories based on the source of the impetus and the locus of the change agent: systematic, symbolic, opportunistic, and pragmatic. This paper (1) describes the various approaches to implementing Chapter 1 program improvement activities at the state and local district levels in 13 western…

This study examines cases of overlap between federal Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 programs as reauthorized in the Hawkins-Stafford Elementary and Secondary School Improvements Amendments of 1988. Both chapters emphasize the creation of more effective schools through similar approaches. The study sample includes three states (Connecticut, Arkansas, and…

This booklet presents the proceedings of a conference on the relationship between bilingual education and desegregation in California. The topics covered by the speakers at the general session were: (1) Desegregation and Bilingual Education: A National Perspective; (2) Legal Requirements Related to Desegregation and Bilingual Education; (3) Role…