The professional development school (PDS) is a model of choice for many teacher preparation programs. This approach integrates the functions of teacher preparation, professional development, inquiry and research, and student achievement to bring about whole-school improvement and the simultaneous renewal of the teaching profession. Ideally,…

Given the current, apparently favorable, climate for introducing and implementing program evaluation schema, the author questions factors mitigating against success, and variables relevant to program evaluation. He cites two types of problems: technological or instrumental problems of methodology and measurement, and evaluation process into…

This paper on longitudinal/intervention research is divided into a discussion of the problems of this strategy and a working paper. Many of the problems are practical ones, concerning the uncertain trends of funding and the drifting of goals and priorities; all of the methodological problems and inadequacies of longitudinal research and…

This paper provides a critical analysis of New Zealand's Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF). The first section sketches the development and implementation of the PBRF. The second section evaluates the scheme, concentrating on three themes: the relationship between privatization, competition and research performance; the standardization of…

The thesis of this paper is that the humanistic mode of inquiry is underemployed in evaluation studies and the future evaluation of Follow Through could profitably use humanistic approaches. The original Follow Through evaluation was based on the assumption that the world consists of a single system explainable by appropriate methods; the…

The growing demand for program evaluation in the 1970s gave rise to a need for a comprehensive, carefully developed, objective set of guiding principles for the evaluation process, from initial planning to final report. The Joint Committee on Standards for Education Evaluation was established to meet this need. This broad-based group, representing…

The evaluators of Push/Excel assumed that it was a systematically developed program with measurable outcomes, not a charismatically inspired movement whose effects would be hard to pin down. As a result, neither the program nor the evaluation approach used were adequately tested. (Author)

The purpose of this paper is to: (1) discuss the reasons for applying the experimental method to program evaluation; (2) review the basic elements of the experimental method; (3) illustrate refinements and variants of the experimental method with examples from program evaluation in the social sciences; (4) describe ways in which funding directives…

This chapter presents a number of problems related to designing local-level summative evaluation studies and suggests solutions to these problems. Three general areas are covered. First, many of the motivational, organizational, and attitudinal constraints likely to face the local-level evaluator are discussed. Second, various threats to the…

Presents methodology that might be employed in evaluating learners' opinions and judgments in complex instructional or training settings. (Editor/TA)

Requirements of research projects intended to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of new or modified health-care-delivery arrangements are discussed. Included in the discussion are the peculiarities of evaluation research, issues that arise in the implementation of health-related programs and their evaluation, and the dissemination process. (JMD)

The overall purpose of the Michigan Research Coordinating Unit (RCU) is to stimulate research and development activities within the State. This report reviews RCU activities in this area during the period July 1, 1967 to August 31, 1969. Problem areas include staffing and funding. In light of accomplishments and problems, the RCU has been…

Proceedings of a symposium sponsored by the Coalition for Education in the Outdoors (CEO) are presented in this report. The CEO is a network of institutions, organizations, agencies, businesses, and associations in support of outdoor education. This symposium, reflecting the work of CEO's Research Task Force, provides literature reviews and field…

This paper reports the problems involved in measuring the extent to which the practice in program sites matches model theory formulated in Head Start Planned Variation. The main focus in studying program implementation is the question of internal validity, whether the children in the HSPV programs actually receive the treatment being evaluated.…

Two related problems are discussed: developing a methodology which (1) will not require full commitment of a local education agency to new techniques which may be ineffective in local settings and (2) will allow graceful abandonment of a new technology that may be proved ineffective. An example is discussed. (CTM)