Policymakers have expressed increased interest in program-level higher education accountability measures as a supplement to, or in place of, institution-level metrics. But it is unclear what these measures should look like. In this report, we assess the ways program-level data could be developed to facilitate federal accountability. Evidence shows…

Calls for increased monitoring and evaluation of education policies and practices have not, so far, included widespread and consistent assessments of the inclusiveness of education settings. Measuring inclusion in education has proven to be a challenging exercise, due not only to the complexity and different uses of the concept, but also to its…

The purpose of the "District Self-Assessment Tool" is to provide school district and community stakeholders with an approach for assessing district capacity to support a college readiness indicator system and track progress over time. The tool draws on lessons from the collective implementation experiences of the four College Readiness…

This report describes how big data and an evidence framework can align across five contexts of educational improvement. It explains that before working with big data, there is an important prerequisite: the proposed innovation should align with deeper learning objectives and should incorporate sound learning sciences principles. New curriculum…

The purpose of this research to investigate the heterogeneity of per-pupil expenditure (PPE) slope estimates in predicting student achievement. The research question guiding this project is: how does the measured relationship between per-pupil expenditure vary across studies that use different models? In concert with SREE's 2012 conference mission…

Over the past decade, Ohio has made important education policy advances, with a focus on student learning and achievement, standards, and accountability. Ohio is serious about its commitment to quality schools and honors this commitment by providing Local Education Agencies (LEAs) a research-based, transparent, fair teacher evaluation system…

One objective of the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) School Improvement Grants (SIG) and Race to the Top (RTT) program is to help states enhance their capacity to support the turnaround of low-performing schools. This capacity may be important, given how difficult it is to produce substantial and sustained achievement gains in low-performing…

The purpose of this paper is to offer an analytic perspective to policy makers and educational practitioners regarding how to use longitudinal achievement data to evaluate schools. The authors further discuss the potential practical applications of their models for superintendents, researchers, and policy makers. The premise of the study is that…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) "Measuring What Matters": Report Evaluates States' Progress on Developing High-Quality Data Systems; (2)…

This evaluation report describes the process by which a large, urban-suburban school system evaluated its vocational education program and the results of the evaluation. The evaluation was built upon a set of broad evaluation questions addressing two components of the vocational-technical program: (1) questions related to employer needs and…

Currently, in the field of guidance, relevant stakeholders including guidance practitioners, educators and policy makers, have identified progression for adults in education and employment as one of the key outcomes of educational guidance. Lifelong guidance is now inextricably linked with lifelong learning as a mechanism to enhance individual…

The Project on Secondary Analysis directed its attention to methodology and policy issues, focusing on reanalysis of existing data (1979-82)--surveys, program evaluations, etc.--as a vehicle for learning how to improve methods of obtaining and analyzing data, designing program evaluations, and constructing policy to enhance the quality and utility…

Third in a series, the monograph summarizes the key evaluation issues, design approaches, and statistical techniques used in conducting the 1980-1983 impact evaluation of Indian Education Act Title IV Part A programs. The monograph describes the major problems in evaluating the program to determine the degree of its positive contribution to…

This book describes a structure for understanding and managing the process and options for gathering and analyzing data on needs. The three-phase model that forms the basis for the structure grew from both theory and practical experience in many settings. The focus is on assessing the needs of organizations rather than individuals. It is stressed…

Provides a detailed guide to preparing library budgets and describes several types of budgets. Steps to preparing a final document are outlined, including identifying objectives, assessing and prioritizing needs, data collection and analysis, presentation to the funding agency, and evaluation and monitoring of the final budget. (CLB)