The George Mason University (Mason) offices responsible for institutional reporting and assessment were merged to strengthen and solidify their functions and expertise. The organizational structure creating the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Planning (OIEP) was intended to engineer a new paradigm where assessment would inform the…

In educational reform initiatives worldwide and in Singapore, educators are increasingly encouraged to take ownership of their work through involvement in practitioner inquiry and evaluation efforts to transform teaching and learning. Educators' epistemological beliefs -- their view of knowledge and knowing -- play a critical role as they learn to…

Curricular analytics (CA) is a quantitative method that analyzes the sequence of courses (curriculum) that students in an undergraduate academic program must complete to fulfill the requirements of the program. The main hypothesis of CA is that the less complex a curriculum is, the more likely it is that students complete the program. This study…

Technology, which forms part of all educational settings and curricula, is becoming an integral part of higher education too. Therefore, observations and interpretations from inside such settings are needed for a more realistic understanding. This study evaluates the information packages of the undergraduate programs of a university within the…

Finland has, as of late, become an inspiration for American school reform. There is no denying that we have much to learn from the Finnish system and it rightly deserves its global accolades. However, over the course of the following pages, I would like to suggest that it is also lucrative to look north of the 49th parallel and consider the…

Few studies deal with teachers' receptivity in the initiation stage of educational change, especially in a non-western cultural context like Mainland China. This study aims at investigating teachers' receptivity to the system-wide curriculum reform of the senior secondary education in the initiation stage and understanding the factors influencing…

Since its inception in 2002, the National Center for Education Research (NCER) in the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) has funded over 700 education research grants and over 60 education training grants. The research grants have supported exploratory research to build theory or generate hypotheses on factors that may affect educational…

This commentary takes no serious exception to Professor Lortie's conclusions about educational changes and issues in evaluation, but it examines certain assumptions. It questions the implications that each school district needs independent evaluation and that evaluation should be applied at the end of a given educational program, and asks what…

A stakeholder approach was used in the evaluation of the basic science courses of the University of North Dakota School of Medicine. The stakeholder approach attempted to structure the working relationship between the evaluator and the program stakeholders so that they participated in choosing issues, data to be collected, and ways to organize and…

Preoccupation with the science of educational evaluation has led educators to overlook the art of evaluation, the ability to make quick and accurate assessments, usually without statistical props. This paper suggests common-sense steps to insure accurate assessment of innovative structures. (1) Know the nature and purpose of innovation. An urban…

Author described competency based education-oriented academic programs and the planning for their implementation. His general purpose was to defend the use of CBE through an effective evaluation effort that would show the program was succeeding. (RK)

This report presents the findings and advice of a Steering Committee whose purpose in accordance with Health for All (HFA) Target 27 of the World Health Organization (WHO), "Rational and preferential distribution of resources according to need," was to provide the EURO Nursing Unit relevant information towards the development of an…

Suggests chemistry should be better taught to undergraduates with more emphasis on lifelong learning experience. Emphasizes the collaboration needed between chemistry disciplines. Lists suggestions for curriculum change in chemistry. (ML)

Comments on Foxfire rural education program, focusing on John Puckett's "Foxfire Reconsidered." Examines Eliot Wigginton's brand of educational reform, its ideological evolution, difficulties, detractors, and surrounding issues. Differentiates Wigginton's educational reform from both radical politics-oriented ideology (such as Herbert…

This pamphlet blueprints a step-by-step process of curriculum change, while it is not a pendantic discussion of the process. It also reflects a philosophy of change. It is meant to do two things: 1) to specify the kinds of decisions that must be made to achieve meaningful change; and, 2) to provide acceptable tools to carry out the tasks. Section…