In December 2007, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave MDRC a grant to conduct reconnaissance on promising strategies to reengage disconnected young people and improve their long-term outcomes. The primary objective of the grant was to identify key leverage points for future investment by government and foundations. MDRC consulted with…

In this monograph, technical jargon is avoided and a variation is described from the common approaches to evaluation that emphasize experimental design and pretesting and post-testing. In this variation the emphasis is upon the processes and procedures of the bilingual programs in Illinois and information is obtained by visiting teams, hence the…

A case study of the Arthritis Self-Care Project, a rural community intervention in Virginia, demonstrates the importance of process evaluation in determining the actual independent variable. Instances of reinvention uncovered by the study are explored, and suggestions are provided for dealing with the reinvention inevitable in field research. (TJH)

Plans for the field-testing and implementation of the Accreditation Plus Model (APM) for evaluation of teacher preparation programs are described. Field-testing is taking place in the Center for Teacher Education Evaluation at Tennessee Technological University (Cookeville). The APM is based on the professional judgment approach to program…

The place and importance of implementation in the life cycle of Army training programs is frequently misunderstood. Typically, a program's life cycle is thought of as research, development, and use. If implementation is thought of at all, it is regarded as an event, not a process. Many worthwhile programs have failed because the implementation…

The processes of instructional materials development and dissemination used in four Stanford Program on International and Cross Cultural Education (SPICE) projects dealing with Latin America, Africa, China, and Japan are described, and evaluative comments based on a review of the curriculum development process are made. The major purpose of the…

Designed for middle and junior high school students, the Human Sciences Program (HSP) represents a three year, interdisciplinary program which focuses on the role of the natural sciences in promoting the cognitive, psycho-social, and moral development of early adolescents. The materials consist of modules of activities designed around major themes…