Fostering data-driven decision-making is not an easy task, nor is getting busy people's attention in this age of information overload. How we write about and disseminate our findings can help. Writing to the audience, timing, formatting, choice of medium, and connecting results to institutional goals and current, even controversial, issues are…

Reasons for the failure to adopt behavior-analytic teaching strategies include the perception that behavior analysis is coercive and controlling, difficulties in implementation, university factors, and marketing problems. The goal of dissemination of these strategies could be met through creating motivational conditions and devising marketing…

Although scholars and policy analysts both value quality-controlled collections of research results, they evaluate research according to different criteria. Nevertheless, an examination of a pessimistic fictional research experience and a more productive actual experience indicate that, although differences in focus between scholars and policy…

One of a series of booklets on disability research, this paper is intended as an introduction to the role of evaluation in the utilization process. Its purpose is to help disability researchers grasp the importance of incorporating a focus on assessing use into plans for disseminating research outcomes. The paper begins by examining basic…

The National Postsecondary Education Cooperative has sponsored two working groups on student outcomes, one exploring the issue from a policy perspective and the other, from a data perspective. This report presents the results of the data perspective case studies, discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the "state of the art" in student…

An overview is presented of decision-oriented educational research, based on experiences in a large urban school district and on the literature. Alternative definitions of research use and evaluation use are discussed, with particular attention to the dissemination of research outcomes. (GDC)

In response to the legislative mandate and the increasing need for timely and high-quality data by policymakers at various levels, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has initiated a number of actions, programs, and surveys to improve the amount and quality of education information. To improve the relevance of data, the NCES has…

This paper examines how to increase the national vocational education and training (VET) research effort in Australia and the mechanisms to increase the knowledge about and use of research results. Section 1, "Introduction," addresses the rapid change in VET and importance of a national VET research effort. Section 2, "Increasing…

As one of the federally-funded regional educational laboratories, the Appalachia Educational Laboratory (AEL) is committed to assessing the impact of its products and services on a variety of client subgroups. These include educators and administrators at the elementary, secondary, and higher levels. To address the issue of measuring impact, the…

A three-year study examined the significant factors that affect the job placement rates of students completing a Home Economics Related Occupations (HERO) program. Other purposes of the study were to develop and pilot test a model that could be used to determine factors related to student placement in a variety of vocational education programs and…

This learning module, one in a series of competency-based guidance program training packages focusing upon professional and paraprofessional competencies of guidance personnel, deals with reporting results of program evaluation and using results to make key administrative decisions. Addressed in the module are the following topics: evaluating…