Southeast Pennsylvania 4-H Extension educators identified a need for professional development in order to further develop current urban 4-H programs. The expectation was that increased awareness and knowledge would lead to increased skills competency in planning, implementing, and evaluating urban 4-H youth development programs. An interstate…

The aim of this study is to improve the subsequent editions of an international training program in information management. Up to now 15 editions have been organized, coordinated by the author of this paper. Most participants work in developing countries, mainly in Africa and Asia. Each program takes place mainly in Brussels, Belgium, for about…

Although the need for project objectives is obvious, their value and role are much broader than most think. In this article, we explore the need for higher levels of objectives, along with tips and techniques to develop them properly. More important, we examine the benefits of objectives from many perspectives. In today's competitive environment,…

The purpose of this paper is to inform the community about teacher appraisal methods in the School District of Philadelphia, outline the difficulties of the current system, and suggest approaches that would strengthen the teacher appraisal process. The authors gathered their information over three months in mid-2009 from multiple sources:…

This article applies to class size research Grant and Graue's (1999) position that reviews of research represent conversations in the academic community. By extending our understanding of the class size reduction conversation beyond published literature to the perspectives of researchers who have studied the topic, we create a review that includes…

In 1998, the State of Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services assumed responsibility for the Milwaukee County child welfare system. The Wisconsin Council on Children and Families has undertaken a multi-year, qualitative research project to monitor the state takeover. The three questions that this project seeks to answer are: (1) What…

Study goals were to identify and evaluate the impact of fellowships awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts to visual artists and to provide information to help the Endowment in planning, policy development, and resource allocation for the fellowship category. Information was collected in three ways. Questionnaires were sent to 50% of all…

In anticipation of the 35th anniversary of Project Head Start, the National Head Start Association (NHSA) launched a national initiative to discover how Head Start can best serve children and families in the new millennium. A series of hearings and open forums were conducted throughout the country in 1999, along with a special session featuring…

An evaluation was conducted of the Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Experience-Based Career Education (EBCE) program at the end of its second year of implementation. Evaluation data were collected in the following ways: regular meetings with project staff; on-site observations of program activities; results from pre and posttesting students; inspection…

The Iowa Curriculum Assistance System at the University of Iowa collects and disseminates curriculum materials and information and offers inservice workshops to vocational educators. A third-party evaluation of the system was made through a 3-day site visit by three experts who interviewed personnel from the system, administrators and faculty from…

Vocational education programs for handicapped students in Texas were evaluated in order to make recommendations for improvement. Three objectives were proposed: (1) to evaluate the effectiveness of training for entry-level knowledge and skills provided to handicapped students enrolled in vocational education for the handicapped (VEH) programs; (2)…

This report synthesizes the information presented at three conferences designed to develop guidelines for future funding for Follow Through programs. These conferences were part of a series of activities undertaken by the National Institute of Education (NIE) in 1981 to plan for a new set of Follow Through research and pilot project activities.…

A third-party evaluation was conducted to assess the second year's operation of the Experience Based Career Education (EBCE) program at Wichita (Kansas) High School East. The program proposal contained fourteen process objectives and twelve outcome objectives. The status of the process objective achievement was determined by interviewing program…

An evaluation of adult basic education (ABE) programs was conducted in North Carolina, using a case study approach. Research was done by six teams that collected information from taped interviews with participants in six programs chosen to represent rural and urban areas and various demographic and racial mixes of students. Materials and records…

A survey of former students of the Wisconsin Vocational, Technical, and Adult Education (VTAE) wood technics programs and employers in woodworking industries was conducted during spring of 1985. General objectives were to determine job classifications, types of businesses, and relative importance of tasks or duties in various woodworking-related…