The purpose of this dissertation was to validate scores for a new survey tool, The Virtual Learning Assessment. This 53-item measure was designed with the intent that if scores are validated it could provide a means in which student-teacher relationships and the attributes that enhance those relationships in a remote setting could be assessed. To…

The Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) grants program, sponsored by the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, aimed to improve children's access to high quality early care and education. RTT-ELC awarded more than $1 billion over three rounds of grants to help states develop and implement systems that rate…

Like instruments used in afterschool programs to assess children's social and emotional growth or to evaluate staff members' performance, instruments used to evaluate program quality should be free from bias. Practitioners and researchers alike want to know that assessment instruments, whatever their type or intent, treat all people fairly and do…

The Interstate Validation Process (IVP-)is a method of validating educational practices for dissemination across state lines. The IVP was developed because no validation procedures for disseminating non-federally-funded programs were accepted by all states in the U.S. Department of Education's Region X, and because it was felt that such procedures…

Two surveys of educational professionals in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington sought, first, to assemble criteria to test the validity and "exportability" of potentially exemplary educational programs and, second, to develop a measurement instrument to perform such validations. In each survey the respondents rated the acceptability…

After surveying the nationwide trend toward reduction and re-evaluation of counselors, this report traces the development of a guidance program accountability evaluation process. The history, a basic definition and rationale of the program, and its goals are described. Various assessment tools, data evaluation and the resulting suggestions and…

This paper examines whether the peer-review process of the North Central Association (NCA) is reliable and valid. Reliance on peer judgments has been a part of NCA accreditation, but confidence in the use of peer decisions to certify a school's readiness to implement the improvement plan--Outcomes Accreditation (OA)--was weak. The study focused on…

The second of two related pamphlets, this guide describes how to design an outcome study and outlines procedures for collecting outcome data. After an introduction that delineates the purpose of the two-part series, the pamphlet is divided into four major sections. The first section explains how to select a cost-outcome analysis. The next three…

The purpose of this monograph is to assist project personnel in improving and measuring the effectiveness of vocational education demonstration projects. The first of four chapters discusses how the monograph is organized and why and how it was developed. Chapter 2 presents an evaluation model containing criteria, standards, and documentation…

The papers comprising these proceedings discuss the nature and purpose of the Independent Educational Accomplishment Audit (IEAA), a concept born in the late 1960's to establish accountability for mandatory technical assistance programs funded by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act: (1) origins and rationale of the Independent Educational…

This report examines parent-involvement programs that focus on Hispanic families and the methods that have been used to evaluate these programs. The survey involved 10 Hispanic parent-involvement programs named by various state education agency directors as being significant. Particular attention was given to whether or not the programs were…

A third-party evaluation was conducted as part of a Georgia State University project to provide the Georgia State Office of Vocational Education with the preliminary materials and procedures necessary to further test a state coordinated evaluation system of secondary and postsecondary vocational education programs. Following an orientation meeting…

This paper presents a discussion of issues raised in the evaluation of Project Follow Through reported by Abt Associates. The paper suggests that many of the problems inherent in the design of both the program and the evaluation stem from the underlying assumption that one educational model could be found which would best alleviate the educational…

This article gives guidelines for the evaluation of foreign language departments that should lead to an upgrading of the profession. (CFM)

This report is based on the assessment of ICT (information and communication technology) literacy conducted in October 2005. It describes the development of a computer-based tool for assessing ICT literacy among school students and the application of that tool with a nationally representative sample of approximately 7,400 students from Years 6 and…