The purpose of the "Drivers Best Practices Assessment" ("DBPA") is to assist organizations in assessing their current supports and resources for quality use of selected programs or practices. Specifically, organizations can use it to: (1) Identify strengths and opportunities for improvement in their current supports and…

Inclusion is clearly related to better outcomes for young children--but reports from the US Department of Education show the practice has grown by just 5% over the past 27 years. This is the how-to book preschool administrators, school district leaders, child care directors, and faculty need to step up the progress of early childhood inclusion…

This resource is part of a series of reports about challenges facing statewide science assessments and innovative solutions states are enacting to meet those challenges. Deciding to implement a system of assessments is a critical step toward ensuring that all students are getting the high-quality science education they need--but it is also…

Do we add that edgy urban novel to our teen collection? Should we initiate social networking? What about abandoning Dewey for a bookstore arrangement? Change is risky business, but librarians must be prepared to initiate change to best serve teens. YA (young adult) service innovators Linda W. Braun, Hillias J. Martin, and Connie Urquhart explain…

The use of data for making educational decisions and to assess educational outcomes has been legislated by political bodies and codified by accreditation. Faculty have always used data to inform the grading process--data is gathered throughout the term to inform the letter grade assigned at the end. However, in today's educational environment,…

Written for 12 to 14 year olds. The 25 activities use hands-on experience to facilitate youth learning, including concepts review and learning assessment at each chapter's end. A retrospective impact evaluation is included in the appendices along with additional resources, glossary, training outline and teaching tips. An accompanying cd-rom…

The study recorded the origin, development, and implementation of the physical facilities, organizational structure, and program of Chamisa Elementary School, Los Alamos, New Mexico. Recommendations made pertain to administrative and public support, physical facilities, faculty selection, innovating on a limited scale, curriculum development, team…

Chapter 12 in a volume on school leadership, this chapter cites the work of several authorities concerning problem-solving or decision-making techniques based on the belief that group problem-solving effort is preferable to individual effort. The first technique, force-field analysis, is described as a means of dissecting complex problems into…

The Multiattribute Utility Model combines subjective goal definition with objective data analysis. Goals are defined, ranked, and weighted. Subjective opinions about their attainment are assigned against decision alternatives considered by the school. Bayesian analysis of data enables revision of prior opinions about the realization of goals…

The report describes activities and results of the second year of the Special Education Planning Model (SEPM), designed to help planners and policymakers estimate special education program needs and costs. SEPM uses a computer simulation based on users' assumptions and priorities in such areas as incidence rates, handicapping conditions to be…

This Teacher Corps document investigates the nature and function of organizations, and explores the applicability of organizational studies to the field of education. Topics dealt with include: 1) understanding organizations; 2) the structure of organizations; 3) the relationship between individuals and organizations; 4) organizational…

The paper focuses on the role of decision making to develop social skills in adolescents with learning or behavior problems and describes a project to implement such a decision making model. The paper begins by tracing some of the crucial issues of adolescence and then describes the Adolescent Issues Project which has produced a curriculum…

Explores decision making strategies by program administrators regarding coordinating the program development functions of their agencies. Discusses program origins, orientation of resource persons, planning committees, supervision, and situational influences. (CT)

A Center for the Study of Evaluation (CSE) evaluation framework describes the decision to be made, appropriate evaluation activity and activity description. The topic of this third CSE Evaluation Workshop is program planning, the second stage of the four stage evaluation framework. Evaluation activities should follow an orderly and logical…

If planning is to succeed in higher education, radical changes must be made in the way in which the process is conceptualized and implemented. Philosophical assumptions and operational guidelines are identified, and a strategic planning process model is described. (MLW)