Making evidence-based decisions in schools seems like an impossible task when hundreds of activities are available, the evidence base fails to address most of them, and budget deadlines are immovable. In addition, different stakeholders hold different views on what it means for a program, strategy, or intervention to "work." Fiona…

The purpose of this study was to examine administrators' use of data, their perceptions of data, and what their expectations were in terms of teacher use of data. In conjunction with this examination will be a closer look at the new Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (PSEL) to determine the connections as well as the disconnections to…

The present study investigated the processes information professionals, working in a business environment, follow to meet business clients' information needs and particularly their involvement in information synthesis and analysis practices. A combination of qualitative and quantitative data was collected via a survey of 98 information…

Intelligence gathering, or data collection, is a preliminary and critical stage of decision making. Two key approaches to intelligence gathering are "discovery" and "idea imposition." The discovery approach allows us to learn about possibilities by gathering intelligence in order to identify and weigh options. The idea imposition approach limits…

We investigated Early Head Start home visitors' use of evidence-based practices and the effectiveness of a web-based system to support these practices. Home visitors learned to use 3 evidence-based practices: (a) frequent assessment of children's early communication for screening and progress monitoring, (b) 2 home-based language promoting…

The role of the administrator has evolved over the past 30 years from manager to instructional leader. As instructional leaders, administrators are now responsible for student achievement on high-stakes state-mandated assessments. Therefore, it is imperative principal preparation programs provide the necessary training instructional leaders need…

Response to Intervention, or RTI, is a framework for using data to establish the nature and degree of the help a student needs, and then applying strategies targeting those areas. It is a carefully drawn, systematic form of data-driven decision-making that establishes multiple stages of interventions for varying degrees of problems. Though some…

This document is one of eight reports prepared to support the development of a new learning system, an effort that is the first step in a major initiative undertaken by the Stupski Foundation. The report was created collaboratively by researchers from McRel with guidance from officers of the Stupski Foundation. Its purpose is to provide members of…

This booklet has been prepared as a guide to evaluation for educational decision-makers. It is intended primarily for administrators although it may be appropriate to other decision-makers as well. The major purpose of this booklet has been to discuss the "what" and why" of evaluation rather than the "how to." After dealing with some basic…

Evaluation is discusses as a primary element in the change process. Defined as a procedure for obtaining data to make decisions, evaluation is regarded as a recurring determination of the extent to which objectives have been reached, within a four-stage sequence of research, development, diffusion, and adoption. A conceptual scheme for viewing the…

The meaning of evaluation and the steps necessary to implement it are explained to parents in this booklet. The purposes and methods of evaluating student progress, teacher capability, programs, and school and community goals are related to improvement of the educational experience as a whole. Decision making is always a result of the data…

These proceedings contain the papers of the International Conference e-Learning 2015, which was organised by the International Association for Development of the Information and Society and is part of the Multi Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, July 21-24, 2015). The e-Learning 2015…

An overview of educational evaluation theory in general, and its formative phase in specific, is presented. Educational evaluation is defined as are its formative and summative phases and its classifications of external and internal evaluation. Each phase and classification are discussed largely in the context of formative evaluation. In addition,…

An outline for the total scheme of evaluation in a school district is presented for administrators. Evaluation of programs, teachers, students, and materials used in classrooms is discussed with respect to identification, data collection, and decision-making. This booklet begins with a summary and a chart that is intended to help an administrator…