We examine whether the El Dorado Promise, a guaranteed college scholarship program for students in the El Dorado School District (EDSD), affected elementary and middle school achievement using a quasi-experimental matching design. We first match the EDSD with similar districts to create a pool of potential comparison students then match students…

Evaluations of educational programs or interventions are typically conducted in nonrandomly selected samples of schools or districts. Recent research has shown that nonrandom site selection can yield biased impact estimates. To estimate the external validity bias from nonrandom site selection, we combine lists of school districts that were…

Extensive teacher mobility can undermine policy efforts to develop a high-quality workforce. In response, policymakers have increasingly championed financial incentives to retain teachers. In 2006, the Denver Public Schools adopted an alternative teacher compensation reform, the Professional Compensation System for Teachers ("ProComp").…

In addition to training and knowledge of particular programs and legal requirements evaluators need interpersonal skills. Sensitivity to and rapport with staff and community as well as respect and commitment of administrators, particularly school superintendents, are critical. To make their work useful, evaluators should be facilitators, not…

A brief history of Title I evaluation efforts in Chicago illustrates the concern that the evaluation of Title I programs must serve two masters: the federal reporting mandate and local needs. (PN)

Objectives of Title I evaluations are to document: (1) use by local staff and parents; (2) other types of information used by local staff and parents in judging and in improving their program; and (3) implications of these findings for the current Federal Title I evaluation strategy. (Author/RL)

This paper describes eight problems faced by a school district evaluator in evaluating state-funded, compensatory education programs: determining evaluation ownership, determining the major constraints, determining what to evaluate, determining what methods to use, determining participant characteristics, determining instrumentation, determining…

The chronology, evaluation procedures, results, implications, and recommendations of a district-wide evaluation of reading instruction are described. The evaluation was conducted in 3l elementary schools in Eugene, Oregon, to determine: reading program effectiveness, qualities of effective programs, and methods to improve ineffective programs. (MH)

Presents a synthesis of what is known about Title I schoolwide programs, focusing on characteristics of schools and districts implementing schoolwide programs, programmatic and organizational characteristics of the programs, and evidence of program effectiveness. Cautions in interpreting the evaluation findings are presented, and educational…

This article examines the use of a modified judiciary model, called the Advocacy-Judiciary model, by the Mesa Public School System in Arizona. The method was used to investigate programs specifically directed toward the academic needs of the gifted and talented student population. (Author/JAZ)

An alternative teacher certification program in the Dallas (Texas) Independent School District is described. Program characteristics; intern characteristics, attitudes, and performance; predictors of alternative certification success; reactions to the program; and possible contributions of programs to the need for teachers are addressed. (TJH)

The evaluation of the reading programs in the Eugene, Oregon, public schools is described. Emphasis is placed on the eclectic approach to reading in the district prior to the evaluation and on the effect of using staff members as evaluators in their own district. (CTM)

This paper reports results of a 1979 survey of heads of evaluation units in public school districts and state departments of education. The survey was primarily concerned with current versus ideal procedures for determining program evaluation budgets and evaluators' perceived reasons for the low fiscal priority given evaluation activities.…

The activities and results of a comprehensive three-year evaluation of Utah's Title IV-C programs are summarized. They demonstrated that evaluation can produce valuable outcomes in addition to complying with federal requirements. State officials gained insights into program improvement; local officials gained expertise in program operation and…

Local implementation responses to the Utah teacher career ladder program (CLP) initiated in 1983 were assessed using previously collected data. Circumstances/conditions under which schools implement CLPs in accordance with state policy were studied. Local implementations of the program are classified into four modes: pro forma; programmatic;…