This paper illustrates the need for full description and measurement of differences between "experimental" and "control" situations in school program evaluation studies. Two studies were completed at the University of Oregon involving the innovative program--differentiated staffing (DS). The first study, a doctoral investigation, sought to assess…

This report describes the procedures of a systemwide testing program established by the Ottawa, Ontario, education board to evaluate high school student performance in selected courses. The project was initiated in response to a directive from trustees, who were concerned about variation of academic standards among students in relation to…

Microcomputers are already in a majority of American schools, but little is known about their integration into the school curriculum. This study examines the features of an elementary school--Skyline School in the South San Francisco Unified School District (California)--that have contributed to the successful integration of computers in its…

The Dissemination Efforts Supporting School Improvement (DESSI) study examined the adoption or development and implementation in 146 schools in 10 states of 61 practices that were part of 4 federal or state programs. Local schools in the study sample were asked to identify those individuals (facilitators) who had helped them with a particular new…

This paper synthesizes data from two studies of educational change to describe how school contextual factors influenced teacher involvement and how principals reduced those influences. The first study, involving 14 schools representing a mixture of levels and types of areas served, began in 1979 and spanned 3 school years; the second study, which…

This paper presents the State of New Jersey Board of Education's evaluation of the Operation School Renewal (OSR) Program, a multi-year assistance program involving the urban school districts of Trenton, East Orange, and Neptune Township (New Jersey). Goals included the following: (1) attendance improvement; (2) reduction of disruptive pupil…

Purposes of this study were: (1) to examine patterns of implementation of an innovative educational program with a built-in staff development component over a period of three years; (2) to compare patterns of implementation of the Adaptive Learning Environments Model's (ALEM) three types of teaching skills, including generic, adaptive, and program…

Teachers who implement new programs have often been observed to adapt them to suit their own teaching situations. This process of adaptation raises four important issues: (1) Can teachers replicate practices developed elsewhere? (2) Can they be equally effective in doing so? (3) Must adaptation occur for implementation to succeed? and (4) Can…

Reports on the implementation of the education with production (EWP) curriculum reform 13 years after its implementation in eight pilot schools in Zimbabwe. EWP attempted to foster socialist principles, redress colonial mentality, and inculcate industrial and technical skills. Poor planning, political interference, and lack of support hurt the…

A computerized teacher/advisor for a Classwide Peer Tutoring Program was developed, and initial tests were conducted. This paper reports the development of the system and results of two small-scale tests of its accuracy and its use by teachers. Implications of combining behavioral and computer technology in assessing fidelity of treatment are…

This handbook presents a process for the assessment of college curricula and student learning in general education and liberal learning. The key concepts of the Coursework Cluster Analysis Model (CCAM) are described and explained. Some of the general guidelines on interpreting the results of CCAM analyses are presented as well as key decisions…

The program evaluated in this paper has a three-pronged design which includes two holistic strategies, Integrated Skill Development (ISD) and Thinking Across the Curriculum (TAC), in addition to the Supplemental Curriculum (SC). A pretest-posttest control group design with matching was employed. The program was conducted at the Cleveland School…

If schools improved the academic performance of at-risk students beginning in the early years and continuing through the elementary grades, this improvement would have multiple positive effects on student dropout, delinquency, pregnancy, substance abuse, and other behaviors. Early improvement of poor academic performance could greatly alleviate…

This paper describes an ongoing comprehensive model of program evaluation which has as its major goal the improvement of teacher education. This project, developed at the University of Lethbridge (Alberta, Canada), is presented in four parts: (1) the process--how and why the project developed or is developing as it is; (2) the conceptual…

This report summarizes recent Cincinnati (Ohio) Public Schools efforts to develop systematic approaches to generating information for school and district administrators. The result of these efforts is a School-Based Information System (SIS) that provides the district's 57 elementary and 22 secondary schools with information in such areas as…