Standardized testing for higher education has been much in the news in the US over the last few years. In the wake of the Spellings Commission, the clear intent of the Department of Education's (USDOE) position in negotiated rulemaking in 2007 was to mandate its use in accreditation. Standardized testing is also a central feature of the Voluntary…

This paper examines the current academic and policy literatures concerning school evaluation in primary and secondary education within the OECD countries. First, it provides a typology of the existing systems of school evaluation across the OECD. It encompasses the diverse criteria and instruments commonly used to carry out schools evaluation, as…

Evaluations of Chapter 1 programs usually center on one of three questions: (1) Does the program constitute an appropriate Federal investment? (2) Does the program have the potential to benefit students? and (3) Is the program feasible enough to implement? Often, evaluators and legislators disagree over which of these questions is most important.…

Four steps to curriculum innovation are outlined: (1) identifying descriptive dimensions; (2) specifying practices implied by the innovation; (3) describing actual practices; and (4) comparing actual with intended practices across the critical dimensions of beliefs, objectives, instructional materials, and teaching strategies. (Author/CP)

The evaluation plans for the Orange County Public Schools, Orlando, Florida, are summarized. Both instructional programs and support services are assessed, to determine the effectiveness of the programs as well as their value. Evaluations are planned and conducted by the Program Evaluation Section, using the Educational Planning and Resource…

Noting the paucity of information on the effectiveness of the growing numbers of programs promoting responsible fatherhood, this report examines the evaluability of responsible fatherhood programs. The report provides policymakers with an evaluation design for use with a variety of responsible fatherhood programs, and gives direction to…

Based on a general guide for conducting program evaluations developed by Quebec's Commission d'evaluation de l'enseignement collegial, this two-part report provides guidelines for evaluating programs of studies leading to an Attestation of College Studies (AEC) certificate in the areas of Business Administration Technology (BAT) and Cooperation.…

The "Notes & Reflections" newsletter offers practical information--ideas, strategies, tools, and resources--about topics of special interest to professional developers who are working to improve school performance. Today, professional development services to schools are provided by variety of people: teacher leaders; principals; and district,…

This guide, the first in a series of 13 publications, is designed to be used for evaluations of local education agencies (LEA) in Illinois. It introduces the series and provides an overview of the 12 local leader guides that follow. Each of these guides describes a specific evaluation activity and suggests purposes, methods, and events for…

This document, one of 12 guides that have been developed to facilitate evaluation by and for local education agency (LEA) personnel in Illinois, covers the evaluation of instructional materials, both print and audiovisual. The activity is presented in three parts. The first part is an inventory of instructional materials that are currently owned…

Throwing the proverbial monkey wrench into the machinery "on paper" before a system begins functioning seems to be essential to program evaluation. This activity should be performed by the "resident skeptic" who is familiar with past resistance to change and who, being familiar with a program, is able to foresee theoretical and…

This document, one of 12 guides that have been developed to facilitate evaluation by and for local education agency (LEA) personnel in Illinois, covers the analysis of community resources, an activity that has as its primary objective the evaluation of the LEA's use of those resources available in the community, such as businesses, labor unions,…

This document, one of 12 guides that have been developed to facilitate evaluation by and for local education agency (LEA) personnel in Illinois, covers six areas: (1) student evaluation of instruction, an activity to collect data for use in making decisions regarding program, course, and lesson planning; (2) provision for individual differences;…

This document, one of 12 guides that have been developed to facilitate evaluation by and for local education agency (LEA) personnel in Illinois, covers measuring sutdent achievement. This activity is designed to help local instructors and administrators first to expand the scope of their current efforts to assess student attainment of objectives…

This document, one of 12 guides that have been developed to facilitate evaluation by and for local education agency (LEA) personnel in Illinois, suggests a two-part analysis for assessing the LEA's identification process and service provision to special needs (handicapped, disadvantaged, and limited-English proficient) students. The first part of…