From the 1980s to the present, educational accountability in the United States has grown dramatically. Such accountability in U.S. school districts, although driven primarily by external demands, has internal manifestations as well. The chapter traces the historical development of internal evaluation in American school districts, then highlights…

The relevance of administrative preparation programs has been questioned. The questions center around how well programs are preparing school leaders to deal with the myriad of requirements placed in front of them (i.e. demands relate to issues of accountability, changing demographics, aging professionals, demanding publics, and school…

Describes activities resulting from a 1997 Minnesota state mandate which called for the development of a statewide virtual university. Measures the results to date against two classification systems and several sets of readiness criteria for virtual universities. Offers recommendations for advancing virtual university partnerships. (Author/DB)

This 1-year project identified several goals to increase the awareness of chemical abuse among older women, older adults, and disabled people. The goals included: develop an assessment instrument; identify chemical health service providers; develop a process to coordinate outreach and case-finding; develop a guide for chemical health service…

Two evaluation projects conducted for the Minnesota Agricultural Extension Service are examined from a user-focused perspective: (1) a needs assessment of large scale commercial farmers for program development by the Office of Special Programs; and (2) a review of the extension programs in Nicollet County. Each incorporated the focus group method…

In order to provide teachers, administrators, guidance counselors, and parents with those procedures necessary to set up programs for the gifted, the following topics are considered: definitions and descriptions of the gifted, an identification procedure consisting of five stages, and a list of 19 traits common to the gifted. A discussion of…

An evaluation was conducted on seven career education projects in seven Minnesota school districts. Formative and summative evaluation methods were used to assess teachers' and directors' project implementation and the impact on students' (grades 1 to 9) cognitive achievement. Self evaluation forms were used to obtain information from and to…

The Minnesota Department of Education has created a plan, "Unlearning Violence," to aid schools and communities in their efforts to create safe and nurturing environments for all the state's children. The goals and challenges of this plan were formulated with the involvement of over 600 citizens and an in-depth study of research related…

Materials contained in this career education implementation guide (one in a series of seven) provide concrete examples of how to evaluate a comprehensive career education program using the approach of applying logic and objectivity to the process of judging the merits of career education activities. Major topics discussed include the following:…

This federally funded project was designed to develop, implement, and evaluate a best practices inservice model to train teachers to provide services in least restrictive environments for preschool children with emotional/behavioral disorders. Through collaborative planning among the University of Minnesota and selected Minnesota public schools,…

The Employment Retention and Advancement (ERA) project was undertaken to identify effective strategies for helping low-income parents work more steadily and advance in the labor market. The 15 ERA demonstration projects that were operating in nine states (California, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, South Carolina; Tennessee, and…