The National Council on Teacher Quality's (NCTQ) recent review of university-based teacher preparation programs concluded the vast majority of such programs were inadequately preparing the nation's teachers. The study, however, has a number of serious flaws that include narrow focus on inputs, lack of a strong research base, missing standards,…

Background/Context: School finance litigation has often prompted funding reforms, but what happens as a result is the subject of considerable dispute. Purpose: This article explores design problems encountered in studies examining the nature and effects of those reforms. Analysis: After describing the development and current status of school…

Purpose: The use of e-learning is largely predicated upon the assumption that it can facilitate improvements in student learning and therefore can be more effective than conventional techniques. This assumption has been supported by some in the literature but has been questioned by a continuing body of contrary or indifferent evidence. The purpose…

With the myriad challenges facing parents in recent years, formal parenting training programs have been developed to address parent needs. However, few studies have been conducted to assess the actual effects of participating in such programs. An attempt to develop a better understanding of how informal parental support networks and formal parent…

The review examines evaluations of the efficacy of special education programs for mildly disabled children. The author suggests that serious methodological flaws make our present knowledge in this area very weak and proposes a methodology to address and overcome many of the limitations of previous research. (Author)

Reviews information that will assist in the development of evaluation efforts for school-based health centers (SBHCs). A review of evaluation theory, ideas for evaluation of SBHCs, challenges to implementing research in schools, and future directions for evaluation efforts are presented. (Contains 52 references and 3 tables.) (GCP)

This paper provides a critical analysis of New Zealand's Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF). The first section sketches the development and implementation of the PBRF. The second section evaluates the scheme, concentrating on three themes: the relationship between privatization, competition and research performance; the standardization of…

The paper reviews the state of the art in evaluation research of direct instruction projects with handicapped students. The first section delineates research designs used (including norm referenced comparisons, nonequivalent comparison groups, and quasi experimental designs); major findings; and problems with each. A distinction is made between…

The use of evaluations for policy and program development and change is critically reviewed. Existing conceptions of utilization are discussed and improvements in the methods of detecting use are suggested. Five clusters of variables affecting utilization are described and hypotheses about the reasons for their effects are outlined. (Author/AL)

This paper discussed Consortium for Longitudinal Studies findings which demonstrate that, contrary to first impressions from earlier evaluation studies, early intervention preschool programs do have generally positive long term effects. A public information campaign to communicate these findings through all media is advocated. Problems of…

Offers a critique of the final report of the Head Start Evaluation, Synthesis, and Utilization Project. Points raised include the following: studies considered by the report are not based on a representative sample of Head Start sites; findings are based on studies of both low and high quality; and evaluations do not offer the only rationale for…

Taking issue with the preceding article by Caruso and Detterman, the author contends that research can be one of many respected voices in the political process. According to him, recent research on the effects of early education has played a crucial role in policy decisions about Project Head Start. (Author/WD)

Thirteen evaluations of programs to prevent child abuse and neglect are reviewed. The evaluations were characterized by careful attention to methodologic detail but lacked definitions of abuse or neglect. Important topics are omitted, such as the consequences and costs of medical neglect. (Author/JDD)

Defining hunger on the basis of poverty or other nonphysiological criteria is misleading. With nutritional data used by human-service agencies, suggests programs with such conception of hunger hurt the efforts at nutritional change. Uses central Mississippi as an example to propose objective nutritional definition and assessment. (TES)

This paper focuses on transition programs for youth to postsecondary education, broadly considered. It addresses the following questions: (1) What models or programs of transition exist? (2) On what basis can we say one transition program is more effective than another? In other words, how is successful transition defined? (3) How are…