As accountability measures continue to increase within education, public school systems have integrated standards-based evaluation systems to formally assess professional practices among educators. The purpose of this study was to explore the extent in which the communication process between evaluators and teachers impacts teacher performance…

Schools and school leaders today contend with a dizzying array of demands, including the need to comply with high-stakes accountability systems. The ability to make sense of these multiple pressures and guide the school to craft an appropriate organizational response is an important but little-understood aspect of school leadership (Firestone…

This article summarizes the findings of a case study on the creation and application of an activity-based cost accounting model that links community college salary expenditures to mission-critical practices within academic divisions of a southern California community college. Although initially applied as a financial management tool in private…

Single-case design and progress monitoring methodologies are efficient and cost-effective strategies for increasing accountability for indirect service provision. Single-case design conceptualizes the treatment of an individual as an experimental process that can be monitored over time and evaluated for effectiveness. Increasingly in clinical,…

"Evaluation Theory, Models, and Applications" is designed for evaluators and students who need to develop a commanding knowledge of the evaluation field: its history, theory and standards, models and approaches, procedures, and inclusion of personnel as well as program evaluation. This important book shows how to choose from a growing…

Background/Context: School sanctioning policies that allow for external intervention into and closure of low-performing schools have become central components of the current educational accountability movement. Recent studies indicate that these policies compel principals and teachers to alter school and classroom practices in ways that target…

Action research can play an important role in institutional research endeavors to improve the quality of organizational performance in higher education. This article outlines how the action research perspective informed a research design that integrated fragmented and isolated student success initiatives at a large urban two-year institution where…

Notes that single-case designs rarely appear in the counseling supervision literature. Illustrates and provides a rationale for their use as supplement to rating scales and speculates on reasons for their infrequent use. Contends that single-case designs, particularly three case study preexperimental designs and multiple-baseline experimental…

The effects of recent moves toward national testing regimes are being felt at the classroom level, where teachers feel compelled to "teach to the tests." Thus, they are now accountable in two ways: to students (and their understandings) and to the public and to the school boards (for improving overall student test scores). It is important to…

In seven articles methods of enhancing clinical practice through empirical approaches and realistic approaches and realistic research are discussed including: (1) Cronbach's method of intensive observation; (2) intensive monitoring of treatment strength, integrity, and effectiveness; (3) the use of dependent measures; (4) drawing valid conclusions…

Educational accountability is treated as a philosophy and as a means of introducing system into an educational enterprise. The philosophy of accountability is discussed as to the demand for accountability, the possibility of using accountability as a political tool, the promise made by accountability and whether the promise can be kept, difficult…

Research and instructional role strains are identified, based on the use of large-scale mail surveys for college self-study that are used to teach introductory research methodology. The two organizational hierarchies, the research model and the instructional model, are examined. Experiences at Northwestern University, Northeastern Illinois…