One goal of site-based management in schools is to move decision making on policy issues closer to the point of implementation. Therefore it is important for teachers and administrators at a site to have the information and assistance necessary to make informed decisions. To help site personnel gain this information and evaluate data, a "site…

A "formal information inventory" survey method was used to help educate a university campus about outcomes assessment while identifying assessment activities already being undertaken. The survey was sent to 102 individuals identified as being responsible for, or having knowledge of, any assessment activities within a department or area,…

Groups from two Michigan-based science education projects, funded through the Kellogg Foundation Science Education Initiative, used networking conferences with cluster evaluation processes for their program assessment format. Cluster evaluation is categorized as a type of naturalistic evaluation, and it includes negotiated common cluster outcomes,…

This paper describes how one university developed a program portfolio, which provides a means for integrating previous strategic initiatives. Step one involved identifying the need for information as different institutional changes were implemented. Over 4 years, the university: launched a comprehensive strategic growth plan; designed and…

A cooperative professional evaluation system developed by the Southwest Cook County (Illinois) Cooperative Association for Special Education is described. The development of the system is outlined including writing of generic and specific job descriptions and determination of a philosophy of evaluation which identified the following purposes:…

Program Level Planning, a model based upon decentralized decision making, is proposed as a method to move the planning process to the university's operational level. After describing the characteristics and steps of Program Level Planning, the problems in shifting the decision making to the local level are considered, along with the application of…

Evaluation methods lack direction to improve efforts of teachers because the methods operate on vague impressions. Congruence analysis techniques offer promise for diagnostic determination of strengths and weaknesses in teaching practices over a variety of specified criteria. The analysis circumvents some of the problems of linking objective data…

A Canadian public higher education official comments on the use of performance indicators for evaluating and funding higher education institutions. Focus is on putting the controversy over their use into perspective by narrowing the issues and arguments, clarifying them, and acknowledging inherent limitations of performance indicators. (MSE)

The monograph presents the guidelines of the Georgia Department of Education for annual evaluation of school speech-language pathologists (SLP). A combination of assessment methods is recommended including observation and review of records. The philosophy and purposes of the SLP evaluation is briefly outlined and includes identification and…

Instructional supervision, despite the lack of evidence for its value, can potentially help improve instruction and promote educators' professional growth. To realize this potential, schools should analyze their supervisory practice according to these four premises: (1) that each school district and each school has unique organizational…

Reviews some of the problems involved in the evaluation of educational software, and describes a classroom-based case study approach to software evaluation intended for application by autonomous self-programming groups of teachers. (20 references) (Author/CLB)

This paper describes a higher education assessment process of the general education program at Longwood College, Virginia. A list of the attributes of a good general education program is presented. This is followed by a description of Longwood College's assessment methodology starting with the development of a list of goals that were considered as…

Teacher evaluation procedures, if ineptly accomplished, are potentially vulnerable to litigation (which most school districts can ill afford), because there is no consensus as to what constitutes effective teaching; hence the validity of rating systems and/or reliability of observations is open to challenge. Accordingly, the evaluation policies…

This presentation examines the history of merit pay and analyzes studies and research on merit pay to discover directions for developing effective procedures. Reasons for failure of merit pay plans include administrative problems, personnel problems, collective bargaining, financial problems, unsatisfactory evaluation, staff dissension,…

This paper describes the development and implementation of a teacher reward system based on merit that was used at the University of Nebraska. Explained are the organizational set-up of the program into operational groups and their responsibilities and the steps taken to establish interest and commitment in the project. Also discussed is the…