Medical and health care institutions must find solutions to growing public demands for less expensive and more accessible medical services. (IR)

Presented is an interview with Donald J. Senese (Department of Education Assistant Secretary) in which the department's functions, responsibilities, and philosophies in precollege science/mathematics education are outlined and discussed. Specific questions answered relate to curriculum development, creationism, copyright ownership of software,…

Five activities are proposed for a federal evaluation agenda for the 1980s: (1) measuring net impact of social program cost containment; (2) implementing and evaluating new social experiments; (3) examining appropriateness of current social programs; (4) testing alternatives to established programs; and (5) developing procedures to ensure…

This article considers the advantages and disadvantages of having evaluation users increase the specificity of evaluation requirements through a review of legislative requirements behind several congressionally mandated national-level evaluations, and an in-depth examination of one congressionally mandated evaluation in which very specific design…

A study was conducted to examine how a broad combination of federal education programs (in operation in 1981-82) affected states' administration of federal and related state programs. Results did not confirm assessments of federal education programs as administratively burdensome and excessively restrictive at the state level. (Author/GC)

Presents the organizing framework used in evaluating the National Nutrition Education and Training Program (NET) and summarizes the descriptive, evaluative, and meta-evaluative findings. Concludes that positive effects on children's nutrition-related knowledge have resulted from different nutrition education programs. (DC)

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is currently putting an intense focus on national strength in the physical sciences to cope with challenges of tomorrow's high technology future. Includes comments by NSF director (Edward Knapp) on NSF role/operation, science education, and other areas. Also includes highlights of NSF accomplishments under…

Federal policy has been unsuccessful in achieving some of its goals for several reasons, including viewing implementation as an act rather than as a process and assuming that organizations have uniform capacity and willingness to implement policy. A strategy of differential treatment that matches implementing organizations' characteristics is…

In recognizing the importance of energy conservation to education, the U.S. Office of Environmental Education produced an Instructional Resource Package on environment and energy. In addition to the interdisciplinary packets, fact sheets on energy technologies were developed. Outreach programs were designed to inform teachers about the…

Two issues in the Holtzman Project bear examination and reconsideration: (1) the recommendation for the use of field experiments as an exclusive "authorized" evaluation design, and (2) the focus on the needs of the federal client, and the apparent lack of concern for clients at the state and local levels. (GC)

Reviews (1) market forces that have contributed to the current shortage of moderately priced housing; (2) the impact of the Indochinese refugee flows on existing housing; and (3) household demographic characteristics related to the issue of housing the refugees. Suggests ways that existing housing programs could help to accommodate the…

The tailoring of grants-in-aid to wage levels in the localities which receive them enjoys growing popularity among federal policymakers; two ongoing programs illustrate the flexibility of this technique. The article describes the procedures currently used to index the CETA and Medicare programs and their data source, the ES-202 system. (CT)

Reviews the process employed in evaluating the national 4-H program. Holds that the evaluation design was influenced by political, rather than methodological, concerns. Takes examples from the 4-H evaluation to illustrate dilemmas that have emerged in current evaluation process and theory. (Author/GC)

Many problems are encountered when evaluating a complex, decentralized national program such as 4-H. Good effects of the federal evaluation mandate include local concern with program quality. Bad effects include that local agencies are forced to utilize noxious methodologies or to collect information they consider to be unimportant. (Author/GC)

Describes a study that explored how changes enacted nationally are implemented locally through an examination of the implementation of P.L. 94-142. Concludes that the "universal" (national) level and the "provincial" (local) level interact to produce the final outcome of legislation. (JM)