Spurred by "Race to the Top," efforts to improve teacher evaluation systems have provided states with an opportunity to get teacher evaluation right. Despite the fact that a core reform area of "Race to the Top" was the use of teacher evaluation to provide on-going and meaningful feedback for instructional decision making, we…

It is a truism of American social policy that our nation has great success generating innovative programs that improve outcomes for participants--but that we are far less effective at moving from small, "boutique" programs into broadly applied solutions that improve the prospects of large numbers of individuals. This is certainly true in…

A core component of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB, 2001) is the provision of free after-school tutoring services, labeled "supplemental educational services" (SES), to eligible students. Importantly, an explicit NCLB requirement makes each state responsible for evaluating individual SES providers with regard to effectiveness in…

The Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has adopted the following quality assurance and control policies for education program evaluation in Louisiana: (1) anyone who accepts and executes responsibility for planning, conducting and reporting evaluations of educational programs, projects, and materials approved by the State Board…

In 1981 the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education established regulations of quality assurance for educational program evaluations conducted in the state through two major areas: the certification of educational program evaluators and the use of the Joint Committee's Standards for Evaluation, Projects and Materials in the…

Examples from the evaluation of a program in which data collection systems were developed jointly by the program's staff and evaluators are described. The Louisiana SPUR (Special Plan Upgrading Reading) Project was evaluated by the Louisiana Department of Education Bureau of Evaluation. SPUR involves 63 of the state's 66 public school systems and…

The efforts of the Louisiana State Department of Education Bureau of Evaluation to provide a valid and useful system for evaluation is presented in this overview. The focus is on the quality assurance and control functions of the Bureau in evaluating educational programs, conducting evaluation research on issues relevant to education in Louisiana,…

The Board of Regents (BoR) and State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (SBESE) selected four external consultants to review and evaluate redesigned graduate programs for educational leaders and teachers. In addition, personnel from the Louisiana Department of Education reviewed all K-12 undergraduate teacher preparation programs and…

Policy-making problems being faced in Louisiana regarding the testing of handicapped students within a state mandated minimum competency testing program are dealt with. The decision-making process is complicated by the fact that two groups (staff administering the test and staff administering programs for the handicapped) with differing…

The Louisiana Community and Technical College System submitted a new core grades 1-5 curriculum for an Associate of Science in Teaching degree program for individuals interested in pursuing a career in teaching. Candidates pursuing this degree must demonstrate mastery of core content knowledge in English, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and…

The Louisiana Round Table of Program Evaluators was organized in 1980 among educational evaluators from large parish school systems and the State Department of Education to discuss topics of mutual concern. Since its inception the group has been instrumental in the development and implementation of various workshops directed toward the improvement…

The effects of the genders of the assessor and the assessee on performance observation ratings of beginning teachers were studied in public schools in Louisiana. Data was collected in the pilot phase of the Louisiana Teacher Assessment Program for Interns, which included both teacher observation and structured interview. Of the assessees who…

The Board of Regents (BoR) and State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) selected four external consultants to review and evaluate redesigned graduate programs for educational leaders and teachers. In addition, personnel from the Louisiana Department of Education reviewed all K-12 undergraduate teacher preparation programs and…

The Board of Regents (BoR) and State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (SBESE) selected external consultants who possessed knowledge of current research and effective practices to review and evaluate redesigned programs for educational leaders and teachers. In addition, personnel from the Louisiana Department of Education reviewed all…

This report presents the results of an initial, iterative performance standards-setting (SS) task of a comprehensive on-the-job statewide teacher assessment system--the System for Teaching and Learning Assessment and Review (STAR). The 1990-91 STAR assesses and makes inferences about the quality of teaching and learning on sets of assessment…