In the 2012-2013 school year, Chicago Public Schools unveiled its new teacher evaluation system in all of its almost 600 schools. This study draws on 32 interviews from a random sample of teachers and 2 years of survey data from more than 12,000 teachers per year to measure their perceptions of the clarity, practicality, and cost of the new…

Moving teacher evaluation systems from measuring teachers' performance to improving their practice requires much greater attention to communication and support. In the fall of 2012, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) instituted a sweeping reform of its teacher evaluation system with the introduction of REACH Students (Recognizing Educators Advancing…

Surprisingly, the debate over +/- grade systems seems to occur, largely, at the college and university level. Few middle and high schools seem to have taken on the issue, at least in any way that appears in the public literature. Other opinions suggest that it is the discriminating quality of plus/minus grading systems that make them useful. A…

After decades of disinterest, evaluation of the performance of elementary and secondary teachers in the United States has become an important educational policy issue. As U.S. states and districts have tried to upgrade their evaluation processes, one of the models that has been increasingly used is the Framework for Teaching. This paper summarizes…

Enormous demands for online degrees in higher education have increased the pressure on universities to launch web courses and degrees quickly and, at times, without properly attending to the quality of these ventures. There is scarce research that defines which quality indicators are used to assess cyberlearning environments, how different…

As the Illinois public community college system approaches its 20th anniversary and in the face of a changing economy and shifting public priorities, the establishment of a systematic, collegewide program review and evaluation process that can improve the colleges' overall effectiveness and efficiency in relation to student, community, and state…

Findings from a study of Illinois' educational evaluation process, in which external evaluators conduct the evaluation, are presented in this paper. Methodology involved analysis by State Board of Education staff of requests for proposals (RFPs); these were mailed to 121 potential bidders for external evaluation. Bidders included universities,…

This study investigated procedures used by certified teacher training institutions to evaluate supervisors of student teaching programs. Three basic questions researched in the project were: (1) How are university supervisors evaluated and by what criteria; (2) Who evaluates university supervisors and how much weight does such evaluation have on…

This evaluation report is one of 17 planned for the longitudinal pilot study of the implementation in kindergarten and grade 1 of the Comprehensive School Mathematics Program (CSMP). In this report an overview of the CSMP curriculum for grades K-3 is provided. The goals of evaluation, including specific questions concerning intrinsic merit,…

This inventory is designed to help educational consultants assess their levels of knowledge and skills in ten broad areas of consulting: communication, entry/intervention, diagnosis, group facilitation, problem-solving, influence/power, resource utilization, conflict management/utilization, and evaluation. The instrument is designed to help…

Highland Community College (Illinois) is currently developing procedures for the formal evaluation of its instruction, and will use this study on current practices and problems as a foundation. A review of recent research on the purposes of evaluation indicates that the most widely acceptable is the improvement of instruction. Appropriate criteria…

This publication provides an introduction to grain grading and handling for adult students in vocational and technical education programs. Organized in five chapters, the booklet provides a brief overview of the jobs performed at a grain elevator and of the techniques used to grade grain. The first chapter introduces the grain industry and…

Concludes that teacher evaluations should focus more on teacher improvement, that there should be more student involvement in the evaluation process, that there should be fewer but more comprehensive evaluations, and that administrators who carry out the evaluations should be better trained. (FL)

The state policy implications of using higher education performance indicators for accountability purposes are examined, based on the experiences of 10 case study states (Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin) and others that have initiated such efforts. Specific issues that must be…

This document provides a detailed overview of all data collection, analysis, and reporting aspects of a third-party, independent evaluation conducted in Illinois to determine the impact of the 214 vocational education Quality Assistance Plans funded in fiscal year 1983. The effectiveness of the Impact Assessment Design as a resource in Quality…