The purpose of this document is to provide timely and useful best practice information to help education agencies understand the different uses and benefits of School Courses for the Exchange of Data (SCED). This guide was developed to provide a brief overview of SCED, highlight the research application and benefits of SCED to users, and…

Head Start has long focused on assessing and improving program quality to ensure that the children served receive the best possible preparation for school and life. Most research has been focused inside the classroom--the classroom environment, teacher qualifications, and teacher interactions. Of course, the classroom is important because that is…

The momentum behind building high-quality data systems to harvest better information about student, school and district performance has never been stronger. To meet the goal of improving student achievement, policymakers and educators need longitudinal data systems capable of providing timely, valid and relevant data. Although…

Evaluability assessment is a descriptive and analytic process intended to produce a reasoned basis for proceeding with an evaluation of use to both management and policymakers. It was jointly developed by the members of the program evaluation group of the Urban Institute between 1968 and 1978. The approach begins by obtaining management's…

This booklet offers guidelines for the development of dissemination strategies, especially those concerned with research and programs. Individual sections address: the importance of including sound dissemination plans in grant proposals, factors found to be closely related to information utilization in the dissemination process, a philosophical…

This report provides for Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) prime sponsors who are responsible for labor market information, a set of guidelines to follow for developing an agency-wide plan for the operational use of labor market information. The body of the report outlines step-by-step procedures for creating such a plan. A brief…

This handbook is designed to help state and local vocational education evaluators and persons using evaluation results by presenting strategies and procedures for improved use of vocational education evaluation results. It is divided into five sections, followed by a glossary and annotated bibliographies. Chapter 1 contains an overview of the…

This guide for improving the quality of National Reporting System for Adult Education (NRS) data through improved data collection and training is intended for local providers and state administrators. Chapter 1 explains the guide's purpose, contents, and use and defines the following components of data quality: objectivity; integrity;…