An estimated 274 million primary school children in low and middle income countries are not learning the basic foundational skills necessary to lead productive and healthy lives. The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is committed to improved and more equitable student outcomes, and has framed this as goal 1 of its strategic plan for…

This report provides AISD staff with a guide to sustain project evaluation practices on ARRA IDEA projects after grant funding ends by enhancing staff capacity to include evaluation in planning, managing, and improving the projects and programs.

ED"Facts" is a U.S. Department of Education (ED) initiative to govern, acquire, validate, and use high-quality, kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) performance data for education planning, policymaking, and management and budget decision making to improve outcomes for students. ED"Facts" centralizes data provided by state…

Needs assessment, a prioritizing procedure providing for equitable resource allocation, should be preceded by a three-phase preliminary investigation including preassessment activities; the formal assessment (data gathering, analysis, and priority-setting); and postassessment activities (assessment evaluation and utilization of results). This…

The author, using a weight machine in an airport lounge, varies the machine's input parameters of height and gender to generate data sets of ideal weight. These data are later used at in-service workshops and in both primary and secondary classrooms to explore patterns and make predictions. (JJK)

A study examining the evaluation components of merit pay programs in Illinois suggests that such components significantly influence a program's success or failure. Merit pay programs should incorporate evaluation systems tht emphasize their formal purpose, target variables related to effective teaching, and utilize sound data collection…

Educational standards are an essential tool for many school districts in their efforts to increase student academic achievement. Elementary school administrators and teachers play a critical role in the process of gathering, analyzing, and synthesizing student data with the goal of creating a meaningful plan to accomplish this goal. This article…

With schools being held accountable for helping students achieve state standards, and assessments measuring how well schools and students are meeting standards, the types and uses of data become increasingly important. This brief outlines a study conducted by the Education Commission of the States to understand how exemplary districts use data.…

Describes the performance-based principal evaluation system developed by the Tupelo Public School District (Mississippi). Nine data collection instruments are outlined, as are the methods used to collect the data. Included with the article are two forms: the "Survey of Teacher Opinion" and the "Parent Opinion Summary Form." (MD)

Discusses ways in which children can be harmed by information collected and analyzed by schools and identifies ways in which the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act has enabled parents to participate in the education of their children. (Author/DB)

Discusses data collection ability of modern technological societies and evaluates the extent to which this ability constitutes an invasion of privacy and freedom. Maintains that social studies teachers have a special responsibility to help students understand pressing social problems such as invasions of indivudual freedom. (Author/DB)

This report presents the results of the second national survey of state activities in the assessment of educational outcomes for students with disabilities. The report does not contain actual outcomes data on students with disabilities. Survey results are based on responses from 47 state directors of special education and are presented in the…

The method used to record intellectual transaction in the Science Teaching Observation Schedule (STOS) is examined in the light of the theory of sampling methods. Concludes that STOS cannot give reliable quantitative data. Questions usefulness of continued analysis of STOS data. (Author/DS)

In response to criticisms of the reliability of the sampling methods associated with the Science Teaching Observation Schedule (STOS), the instrument's authors briefly review the rationale in developing the STOS and describe several studies validating the instrument. (DS)

Monitoring the impact of education policy is a critical component of planning. Without an effective monitoring system, the achievements of policies cannot be evaluated nor can the cost-effectiveness of various strategies be estimated. Monitoring requires the establishment of good data bases that are served by good (computerized) data collection…