Open education resources (OER) are taking centre-stage in many higher educational institutions globally, driven by the need to raise institutional profiles, improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning and achieve universal access to education. Many academics attracted to the idea of turning teaching materials into OER have, however, found…

Contract grading has achieved some prominence in our field as a practice associated with critical pedagogy. In this context we describe a hybrid grading contract where students earn a course grade of B based not on our evaluation of their writing quality but solely on their completion of the specified activities. The contract lists activities…

A procedure for evaluating principals was developed over a period of approximately two years at Wellesley, Massachusetts. First, position descriptions were prepared. Then, several meetings were held with all administrators including department heads. Following these general workshops, eight administrators volunteered for a week's workshop during…

The study committee that compiled this report extensively reviewed articles analyzing research on personnel evaluation in Massachusetts' public schools. The report provides a definition and list of principles of evaluation, committee recommendations, a discussion of evaluation procedures in Massachusetts, examples of illustrative practices,…

The problem dealt with here is that of developing evaluation procedures that will determine, through objective evidence, the merit of a demonstration project that uses an infusion approach to career education in an ongoing school system. The design of this process has emerged from the Occupational Competence Access Project. (Author)

A total educational information system for evaluation of vocational education in Massachusetts is described. Specifically, the evaluation guide describes the evaluation plan, reveals the philosophy of evaluation upon which the design was built, outlines the processes of evaluation called for in the design, introduces the forms for data collection…

Focusing on the problems of assessing the speaking skills of secondary school students, this paper provides one example of how those problems were addressed in the Massachusetts speaking assessment. The paper identifies four requirements for measures of speaking skills: (1) feasibility, (2) reliability, (3) validity, and (4) freedom from bias. The…

"Project Evaluation" was conceived to aid evaluation systems in Massachusetts community colleges by accomplishing three main tasks: (1) determining the current status of evaluation efforts; (2) piloting an appropriate program evaluation system and adapting it to Massachusetts; and (3) developing a uniform placement and follow-up system.…

The nature of the listening and speaking instruments used for the Massachusetts assessment of those skills is discussed in this paper. Information concerning the design and administration of the assessment and data analysis is included. Copies of the instruments are appended. (FL)

This report briefly describes and evaluates a program designed to provide medical and public health consultation to Project Head Start in Massachusetts. The program consisted of teams of community medical and public health professionals made available to Head Start programs for planning and implementation of health programs, and education and…

This manual, which presents the principles and steps involved in the two-year Citizen Involvement for Day Care Quality Project in Massachusetts, serves as a guide for developing a citizen network to address the need for quality day care. The Project was housed by the Office for Children (OFC), the state agency which licenses and monitors all day…

This sample evaluation report is part of a series of resources developed for and by workplace education practitioners in business, education, and labor partnerships funded through the Massachusetts Department of Education's Workplace Literacy Program. Data included in the report are based on Project Health, which integrates the experiences from…

This handbook is designed to assist Massachusetts schools in utilizing members of the community, teachers, and administrators in developing a system of evaluation to monitor student progress and measure program effectiveness. Emphasis is placed on the establishment of quality control procedures for alternative learning experiences, such as…

The Education Evaluation and Planning Package provides a performance statement check list approach to the comprehensive educational evaluation required by Massachusetts law for special education students. The vocational area of this package is intended to be used to assess various skills necessary to hold a job. There are four components of this…