Using data strategically to guide decisions and actions can have a positive effect on education practices and processes. This facilitation guide shows education data teams how to move beyond simply reporting data to applying data to direct strategic action. Using guiding questions, suggested activities, and activity forms, this guide provides…

This guide is designed to help districts and schools evaluate reform efforts related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), including School Improvement Grants. It includes practical, how-to tips for conducting program evaluations, whether one takes a "do-it-yourself" approach or seeks outside assistance to evaluate reform…

This guide is intended for professionals, laypersons, funding agents and others involved in planning and delivering local prevention services. Chapter 1 defines prevention, and differentiates between prevention strategies and programs targeted toward individuals or to general populations. Program evaluation and evaluation research are defined and…

Examines principles to consider when evaluating the impact of outdoor-based experiences, including developing a rationale for the evaluation, determining the emphasis of the evaluation, and applying appropriate criteria to the evaluation process. Discusses difficulties associated with control groups, sampling bias, time period of evaluation, and…

This guide is designed to help child care partnerships understand three different ways of using results-based decision making (to manage their own work, to manage the work of others, and to contribute to the work of others), and how they can use this process most effectively to improve the lives of children and families. The guide is intended to…

This resource guide is intended to help in planning special education program evaluations. It focuses on: basic evaluation concepts, identification of special education decision makers and their information needs, specific evaluation questions, procedures for gathering relevant information, and evaluation of the evaluation process itself.…

Noting that child advocates are increasingly implementing monitoring projects to track the status of former welfare families and are using the findings to inform their agendas, policymakers, and the general public, this issue brief introduces monitoring strategies and suggests issues for consideration in designing a monitoring project. Monitoring,…

There is plentiful discussion about the importance of accountability, but much needs to be done to translate it into a manageable and credible system of ongoing feedback. In this book, evaluative inquiry is used in a way that balances attention between the investigation process and its purpose. The book is divided into three parts. Following an…

Designed to help educators examine their current student assessment practices and ensure that assessment activities lead to real improvements, this paper lists and discusses nine principles for assessing student learning. The nine principles are: (1) the assessment of student learning begins with educational values; (2) assessment is most…

The U.S. Department of Education awarded 19 Challenge Grants for Technology in Education in fiscal year 1995 and an additional 24 in fiscal year 1996. These large-scale development projects are intended to mobilize resources, develop technology-enabled learning environments, and provide lessons to others seeking to make effective use of technology…

This document has been designed to assist members of a program review team through the process of reviewing a program. The program review process has been designed for judging the effects of the curriculum, instructional methods, and improvement strategies on the students; guiding the development of planned assistance; and providing a model for…

This guide is intended as a self-evaluation questionnaire for those institutions conducting internal reviews of financial aid programs and of their compliance with federal regulations. It addresses recommended good administrative practices with a view to minimizing incidents of misrepresentation and providing a clear audit trail. Title IV programs…

This document provides the procedures and instruments through which vocational education program personnel may evaluate or reevaluate the value and effectiveness of their program. It was prepared to help secondary vocational educators prepare for self-evaluation of their programs and site visits by educational personnel as part of a statewide…