If community colleges are to remain relevant, they must be future-oriented, and responsive to demographic and labor force shifts. The Get Skilled, Get a Job, Give Back initiative (G3) was implemented during the 2021-22 academic year to retain economically disadvantaged students, improve community college completion, and help students graduate into…

Politicians are challenged to increase economic opportunities for citizens with disabilities. Today, the employment of persons with disabilities within the Australian Government is being supported through a RecruitAbility Scheme. With full implementation of the Scheme underway, it is a timely research exercise to critically explore early progress.…

In this article the authors present the full interview conducted with George Grob in 2011 at the American Evaluation Association (AEA) Conference in Anaheim, CA. George Grob is former Director of the Office of Evaluation and Inspections in the Office of Inspector General. Prior to serving in that Office, he was Director of Planning and Policy…

The limited extent to which research evidence is utilised in healthcare and other public services is widely acknowledged. The United Kingdom government has attempted to address this gap by funding nine Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRCs). CLAHRCs aim to carry out health research, implement research findings…

Purpose: The rapidly evolving nature of agricultural innovation processes in low-income countries requires agricultural extension agencies to transform the classical roles that previously supported linear information dissemination and adoption of innovation. In Bangladesh, strengthening agricultural innovation calls for facilitation of interactive…

A "student scholars" program was developed to engage undergraduates at a large, public, land-grant research university with its public service and outreach mission, through cohort meetings, supervised internships, and site visits. Qualitative and pre-/post-participation quantitative data from the first cohort of 10 students show that…

This chapter examines how factors both internal and external to Cooperative Extension have influenced its commitment and capability to assess the quality and impact of its programs. The authors begin by documenting how the nature of Extension programming has changed dramatically in response to societal needs over the course of the organization's…

Objective: To test the effectiveness of an in-training program for practitioners in public child welfare organizations. Method: The sample consists of practitioners (N = 945) working in youth centers or in local community service centers. Data are collected through self-administered questionnaires prior to and after the program. Results: The data…

Volunteer Maryland!, one of the national community service demonstration projects, was evaluated at 28 of 35 original host sites. Full-time trained volunteer coordinators had a significant impact on increasing the number of volunteers and on the quality of the programs. (SK)

Reviewed summative evaluations of public training programs in Canada, focusing on methodology and the future prospects for evaluation in Canada. Findings show that the evaluation of training programs is a complex exercise that requires a careful research strategy, including carefully designed data collection. Future evaluations may need to focus…

Compared the effectiveness of the American Cancer Society's "FreshStart," the American Lung Association's "Freedom from Smoking," and a laboratory smoking cessation clinic. A one-year followup favored the more intensive laboratory and "Freedom from Smoking" clinics over the "FreshStart" method. (FMW)

Relatively little research has examined the outcomes (either program completion or recidivism) of community service (CS) sentences among adult offenders in the United States, despite the fact that this form of alternative sanction has been employed in the United States for nearly 40 years. What little research exists, primarily from Europe,…

A public service internship program at Baylor University is described. Student participants work a minimum of 100 hours per semester at a public or nonprofit agency in a job with a substantial administrative component. In 1976 the program was expanded to include student interns working in political campaigns. (MLW)

Discusses service learning (learning that combines public service with related academic work) and service learning projects in an undergraduate course on mass communication and society. Finds that it is an effective means of teaching that increases student understanding of complex material. (SR)

This study surveys directors of organized university programs designed to assist public officials and two groups of practitioners--state government officials and local government managers. The study examines the extent to which these practitioner groups use these university services and their judgment of the quality as compared with services from…