For many districts, evaluation is an afterthought to implementing a new initiative. Educators participate in professional learning experiences, apply what they learn to their practice, and then, at some point, school and district staff begin wondering if the initiative is making a difference. Then they scramble for nuggets of data that provide any…

This mixed method study was a practitioner inquiry into the teacher evaluation system that was enacted as a result of Pennsylvania House Bill 1901 (Act 82 of 2012). The study was an effort to gain an in-depth understanding of (a) factors that led to the passage of the Act 82 teacher evaluation policy, (b) what the policy was intended to do, and…

A district-level reform model created by the Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education (CDDRE) provided consultation with district leaders on strategic use of data and selection of proven programs. Fifty-nine districts in seven states were randomly assigned to CDDRE or control conditions. A total of 397 elementary and 225 middle schools were…

This article investigates the utility and availability of college data to evaluate the impact of high school interventions. It reports results of a pilot study that collected information about the college experiences of graduates from four high schools in the northeast United States. Using these results as a lens, the article examines what…

The United States has experienced tremendous growth in the development of coaching initiatives including professional training programs, state endorsements and resources for coaches. These developments bring attention to the potential for coaching to improve education. They also raise the question of how best to facilitate implementation in local…

Recommendations from the Wirtz/Lapointe report, "Measuring The Quality of Education" (ED 213 769), which evaluates National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), are presented. Six educators respond to the concern that NAEP's reports and material are not widely known or as useful to educators as they should be. (CM)

This paper describes the implementation of technical assistance strategies to enhance urban public school improvement in the Oakland, California, and Chicago, Illinois, school districts. The assistance strategies were developed under the Documentation and Technical Assistance Project (DTA) of the Center for New Schools in Chicago, and implemented…

Class-size reduction (CSR) has been a complex and contentious issue for the last quarter century. Although the small-class concept was adopted because it appealed to common sense, research over time has revealed a mix of confounding variables, instead of a definitive conclusion. Some CSR efforts, such as Tennessee's Project STAR and Wisconsin's…

A setting is described in which an evaluation was used with significant impacts on policies and programs. Some of those impacts are delineated, types of utilization employed by staff within the system are illustrated, and conditions under which the evaluation was conducted to obtain such a high level of use are discussed. In the 1979-80 school…

Investigated how information about effectiveness of three classroom interventions influences teachers' acceptability ratings. Teachers (N=216) read descriptions of either mild or severe behavior problems and rated effectiveness of either token economy, response cost, or time-out intervention. Effectiveness information accompanying each…

Describes the creation and objectives of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), and reviews the findings of an evaluation of the NAEP, published in "Measuring the Quality of Education," by Wirtz and Lapointe. Focuses on the role that the NAEP can play in establishing uniform, national educational standards. (GC)

Analyzed are the results of individual interviews with participants in the Indiana Global Education Program, which developed teacher in-service training sessions, dissemination networks, materials, and resource centers to strengthen global education in Indiana schools. This is the second phase of the evaluation study. In phase 1 questionnaires…

Information systems are a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for improving the efficiency of educational systems. Improving the Education Management Information System must be the foundation of any long-term effort to enhance the efficiency of the Nepalese system. Three critical conditions must be met to enhance system efficiency…

Program planning and implementation surveys were completed by 128 teachers of learning disabled students in 42 states. Seven research questions relating to the relationship between teacher or student characteristics and decision behavior were addressed through chi-square analyses or one-way analyses of variance. It was found that the types of…

This report describes and evaluates the Indiana Global Education Program which developed teacher in-service training sessions, dissemination networks, materials, and resource centers to strengthen global education in Indiana Schools. The emphasis in this report is on how elementary and secondary Indiana teachers used the ideas and materials which…