Short comparative interrupted times series (CITS) designs are increasingly being used in education research to assess the effectiveness of school-level interventions. These designs can be implemented relatively inexpensively, often drawing on publicly available data on aggregate school performance. However, the validity of this approach hinges on…

Partnerships between Early Head Start (EHS)/Head Start and child care programs have existed for many years. In 2014, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) granted funds to establish Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships (EHS-CCPs) with the goal of expanding access to high-quality early learning programs to meet the needs of…

After months of waiting, the grant reviews came back: "excellent," "excellent," and "fair." What?! How can this be? Why is the third review so out of line with the first two? On more than one occasion a principal investigator (PI) has been frustrated not only by a negative funding decision but more so by the accompanying reviewer evaluation forms…

As bibliometric indicators are objective, reliable, and cost-effective measures of peer-reviewed research outputs, they are expected to play an increasingly important role in research assessment/management. Recently, a bibliometric approach was developed and integrated within the evaluation framework of research funded by the National Cancer…

An Undergraduate Research Fund (URF) at Indiana University South Bend that has supported over 100 projects and distributed over $25,000 to students since 1989 has yielded several lessons regarding the program's success. URF not only funded student projects but provided small grants to faculty mentors who encouraged and worked with students. Three…

Over the past several years, a number of new programs, policies, and initiatives designed to promote the employment of people with disabilities have been implemented by state and federal agencies, and are being evaluated to greater and lesser degrees. The purpose of this report is to provide a review of the recent evaluation activities being…

Block grants have been defined as programs through which funds are provided to governmental units, such as state or local governments, based upon a statutory formula. They are usually provided for use in a defined, but broad, area and at the recipient's discretion. This document describes the historical development of these grants and the role of…

The purposes of this paper are (1) to describe background and current content of the Agenda for the United States Department of Education's assessment of the Chapter 2 block grant; (2) to stimulate discussion of the structure and approaches proposed; and (3) to solicit ideas and comments from state, local and university researchers. To meet these…

This two-report volume was prepared to describe approaches for evaluating individual Office of Telecommunications Policy (OTP) demonstration projects in the future and to aid demonstration project directors in project planning and development. The first report focuses on the role of planning and evaluation activities, stressing their importance in…

Reviews factors affecting the implementation of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act's Chapter 2 provisions in South Carolina, including demographic changes, recent state educational legislation, and characteristics of Chapter 2. Analyzes the impact of Chapter 2 in 10 districts. (PGD)

This report gathers papers prepared for a design conference for the evaluation of the Federal Talent Search Program, an early intervention program to identify gifted and talented financially needy students and connect them with discretionary grants for higher education. An introductory paper synthesizes major conference themes. These include: (1)…

This study was conducted (1) to determine the effects of the change, under Chapter 2 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA), from categorical grants to block grants in the District of Columbia, and (2) to compare these local effects with the findings of other nationwide studies. The first half of the paper is a review of reports…

This paper presents arguments for changing a portion of current federal policy for evaluating Chapter 1 grants to Local Education Agencies (LEAs). Chapter 1, part of the federal Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA), provides funds to schools and districts to improve education for economically disadvantaged students. The paper advocates that…

This paper traces the evaluation requirements of the Title I/Chapter 1 Program since 1966 to the present, discusses the implications of the evaluations, and reports on the evolution of evaluation during this 20 year period. The evaluations are described in four phases: (1) from a nadir of low quality, utility and precision (1966-1974); (2) to a…

These proceedings contain 48 presentations and 15 poster abstracts. Papers include "Computer Tasks Required in Selected Undergraduate Agriculture Courses" (Johnson, Ferguson, Vokinnns, Lester); "College of Agriculture Faculty Perceptions of Electronic Technologies in Teaching" (Dooley, Murphy); "Steering Through Turbulent…