Teacher-evaluation has become a key measure for determining teacher effectiveness and the examination of the evaluation process at early childhood levels is a critical area of study. Responding to federal policies, many states have reformed their teacher evaluation systems. One of the more recent developments in state policy is the inclusion of…

After decades of disinterest, evaluation of the performance of elementary and secondary teachers in the United States has become an important educational policy issue. As U.S. states and districts have tried to upgrade their evaluation processes, one of the models that has been increasingly used is the Framework for Teaching. This paper summarizes…

Findings from a study of Illinois' educational evaluation process, in which external evaluators conduct the evaluation, are presented in this paper. Methodology involved analysis by State Board of Education staff of requests for proposals (RFPs); these were mailed to 121 potential bidders for external evaluation. Bidders included universities,…

This study investigated procedures used by certified teacher training institutions to evaluate supervisors of student teaching programs. Three basic questions researched in the project were: (1) How are university supervisors evaluated and by what criteria; (2) Who evaluates university supervisors and how much weight does such evaluation have on…

This paper examines the challenges and problems involved in studying the Illinois school finance system, based on the experience of the Center for the Study of Educational Finance in studying the 1973 Illinois school finance reform. The first major section of the paper outlines the major variables in the 1973 Illinois reform and discusses problems…

This paper deals with the history and practices of the language assessment policy being used by the state of Illinois' transitional bilingual education programs serving over 42,000 students. The first section of the paper treats the history of bilingual program evaluation efforts. It divides the discussion into three periods, prior to 1976, from…

The case study method used to determine eligibility for referral to special education in Illinois is examined. Required case study components in Illinois include an interview with the child, consultation with the child's parents, social developmental study, assessment of the child's adaptive behavior, assessment of the child's cultural background,…

This paper examined state and community programs for preschool-aged children in Illinois during a 1-year period in order to identify, describe, and publicize effective practices in early childhood education. Exemplars, rather than content-specific standards, were used for selection criteria. A qualitative, connoisseurship model of evaluation was…

This paper evaluates two locally driven, school-based programs in Illinois that use a system of care approach to provide services for children and adolescents with, or who are at risk for, developing emotional or behavioral disturbances. These sites included a mental health early intervention pilot program in an elementary school setting, and a…

Findings of a study that incorporated a method for measuring the economic efficiency of K-8 school districts in Illinois are presented in this paper. The quadriform concept was used to identify four categories, or quadrants, for identifying school districts--technically efficient, low service, high service, and technically inefficient. The method…

The Illinois project entitled Measurement and Evaluation of Public Library Services is being conducted by the Library Research Center (LRC) at the University of Illinois. The long range goal of the project is to make available meaningful information for the evaluation and improvement of local public libraries. Two immediate objectives are to test…

In response to the tradition of examining a new test's validity by comparing it with a well-established multiple-choice test, a study investigated whether multiple-choice tests with one right answer can measure the reading comprehension process as defined by constructivists. The study compared the information obtained from two different…

The bilingual situation in Illinois is described briefly, and an outline of the instructional objectives of local bilingual programs is given. The programs are to be: (1) measurable and oriented toward the end-of-year-product, and (2) organized within the guidelines for state-funded bilingual programs. The main part of the report describes the…

Special education professionals in Illinois were surveyed regarding case study procedures for use with mentally retarded students, rating usefulness of procedure, modifications desired for use with different age groups and severity of retardation, and what professional should hold primary responsibility for component completion. Processes rated…

The purpose of the seminar was to explore and exchange ideas on the evaluation process by providing a forum for the description of seven of the more highly developed client evaluation programs serving Illinois' handicapped clients: the Decatur Evaluation Center, the Employment Training Center, Goodwill Industries of Chicago and Cook County, Jewish…