Educational evaluation in too many states and school districts, if done at all across an institution, has been reduced to crunching test scores in only the subject areas and grade levels tested. While measuring student achievement in reliable and valid ways is an important part of the mission of education, it is not enough. What's also needed is a…

This article describes how to design program assessment for mathematics departments, in two-year and four-year colleges across the Midwest, based on a set of components that was generated from a Delphi survey. An example is provided to illustrate how this was done at a small four-year college. There is an alignment between these components and a…

This guide is designed to help districts and schools evaluate reform efforts related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), including School Improvement Grants. It includes practical, how-to tips for conducting program evaluations, whether one takes a "do-it-yourself" approach or seeks outside assistance to evaluate reform…

This report discusses the most relevant issues concerning using student test results in OECD countries. Initially the report provides an overview of how student test results are reported in OECD countries and how stakeholders in these countries use and perceive of the results. The report then reviews the literature relating to using student test…

In this paper, problems with testing as a method of educational evaluation are discussed and suggestions are made to schools with respect to strategies for more effective evaluation procedures. Various evaluation processes, their uses, and their limitations, are described. (WI)

The changes required by many school reform policies address problems that are extremely difficult to clarify, with organizational and environmental factors densely intertwined. Accordingly, this document begins by identifying the "four C's" that must be taken into account if any strategy for school improvement is to succeed: complexity,…

The purpose of the research reviews is to summarize and critique recent single subject designs that could help school psychologists and special education leaders make better decisions. 28 advanced graduate students evaluated the single subject research studies in accordance with the following criteria: Was the study applied, behavioral, reliable,…

In October 2002, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) contracted with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (MRP) to help identify issues pertinent to the evaluation of Title I and to propose feasible evaluation design strategies. This design effort took its lead from two sources: (1) the Title I Independent Review Panel (IRP); and (2) a more…

The paper describes an unacknowledged artifact that may confound experimental evaluations of innovations. The paper hypothesizes that control group members (teachers, pupils, etc.) perceiving the consequences of an innovation as threatening to their job, salary, status, or traditional patterns of working, may perform atypically and confound the…

The National Center for Research in Vocational Education (NCRVE) was consulted to improve the formative evaluation design for the Principles of Technology (PT) curriculum materials developed by the Center for Occupational Research and Development (CORD) and the Agency for Instructional Technology (AIT). Because the NCRVE entered the formative…

A study reviewed the measurement problems that would confront a study team performing a national cost-benefit analysis of vocational education and presented alternative strategies to overcome these measurement problems and to provide input into assessing the feasibility of conducting a national cost-benefit study. To meet these objectives,…

A model to encourage and facilitate change in school media programs was developed and field tested. The model was intended to provide assessment measures of media centers, planning strategies, and methods for implementing change. The model considered personnel, physical plant, collections, and operations. In 1975, the model was field tested in…