Head Start has long focused on assessing and improving program quality to ensure that the children served receive the best possible preparation for school and life. Most research has been focused inside the classroom--the classroom environment, teacher qualifications, and teacher interactions. Of course, the classroom is important because that is…

This technical assistance guide was developed to consolidate a statewide understanding of the effort to systematize the delivery of employment and training programs through the local formation of job centers in Wisconsin, and to provide a compilation, drawn from 20 local models, that explains how the programs are delivered. The guide is organized…

Evaluability assessment is a descriptive and analytic process intended to produce a reasoned basis for proceeding with an evaluation of use to both management and policymakers. It was jointly developed by the members of the program evaluation group of the Urban Institute between 1968 and 1978. The approach begins by obtaining management's…

The purpose of this guide is to suggest ways and means for initiating and sustaining a lasting and mutually rewarding partnership between vocational education and Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) youth programs. These suggestions were based on observations of over 100 programs throughout the United States judged to contain examples…

This legislators' guide outlines state maternal health programs and strategies and offers states options for improving their maternal and child health services. The introductory chapter 1 is followed by an overview of maternal and child health status in the United States in chapter 2. Costs associated with the failure to provide adequate prenatal…

This technical assistance guide was developed to help state policy makers develop performance-standard incentive policies that are effective tools in accomplishing state and federal goals for Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) programs. The guide is organized in three sections. The first section introduces incentive policies as tools to further…

This guide addresses many of the most common questions about case management asked by employment and training administrators and practitioners. Its table of contents is organized in a question-and-answer format. The content of the guide flows directly from program administrators, practitioners, case managers, and others in the field, gathered at…

Designed for the practitioner, this paper presents a review of the literature on postsecondary career education. The paper begins with an overview of the history and present context for postsecondary career education, including a review of the pressing needs of postsecondary schools, a description of some of the issues and problems facing…

Audiences were surveyed at the federal, state, and local levels in an effort to determine how the National Assessment of Educational Progress could be made more useful in meeting their needs. Recommendations fell into several major categories: (1) increased dissemination of assessment materials and access to data; (2) increased data interpretation…

This guide is designed to assist state and local consortia with their evaluation of Tech Prep education programs and with their reporting of Tech Prep program and student outcomes data to meet the accountability requirements of the Perkins Act of 1998. Intended for Tech Prep stakeholders in secondary schools and two-year colleges, the guide also…

This publication is a guide with the materials necessary for leading a workshop session on comprehensive needs assessment for Chapter 1 programs for teachers and administrators. As the packet points out, secondary and elementary schools with Chapter 1 programs often do comprehensive needs assessment to satisfy federal regulations or to record…

This publication is a guide with the materials necessary for leading a workshop session on a method for Chapter 1 program improvement that involves teachers and administrators. The "For the Children" approach to program improvement offers a plan for bringing together the people who are responsible for implementing the program that has…

This guide was developed to provide local policymakers and program managers with an approach for using performance standards as a tool for reviewing and improving performance of Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) programs at the local level. The guide is keyed to the Program Year (PY) 1990 U.S. Department of Labor adjustment methodology for…

Project Even Start is an intergenerational literacy project that promotes adult literacy, trains parents to support the educational growth of their children, and prepares children for school. The program is designed to facilitate joint participation by parents and children. It includes home-based instruction and child care, and it is integrated…

This handbook is designed to assist employment and training agency staff in developing, adopting, and implementing an effective intake program for employment and training programs. An introductory section explains the purposes of the handbook and presents an overview of the intake process. In the next section, the action planning guidelines are…