Over both recent years and many decades, California districts have produced a range of substantively different approaches to teacher evaluation, demonstrating both the potential for district-level action generally and specific design options. In this report, the authors focus on teacher evaluation programs and further focus on the features of…

Offers suggestions for spending staff development money effectively. Ideas include the following: (1) keep your money close to the classroom; (2) use consultants to train your own trainers; (3) beware of embarking on numerous small-scale reforms; and (4) beware of pressure to copy other school improvement methods. (CJH)

Class-size reduction (CSR) has been a complex and contentious issue for the last quarter century. Although the small-class concept was adopted because it appealed to common sense, research over time has revealed a mix of confounding variables, instead of a definitive conclusion. Some CSR efforts, such as Tennessee's Project STAR and Wisconsin's…

In response to a statewide economic crisis resulting in a 9% funding cut for Texas community colleges, the presidents of nine Houston area community colleges formed a consortium to pool their resources and aggressively market the colleges. Since 1986, the Gulf Coast Consortium has mounted late-summer television and radio advertising campaigns to…

This handbook is a "how to do it" set of definitions, instruments, and procedures based on program effectiveness and related costs (PERC) evaluation at Empire State College (Saratoga Springs, New York) and four other cooperating institutions. The handbook focuses first on program effectiveness and then considers program costs. It…

An analysis is provided of three alternative solutions to the problem of overstaffed departments and underutilized faculty in the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD). After providing a brief history and background to the staffing problems facing the district, section I examines three alternative solutions: (1) maintaining the status…

This paper examines issues involved in selecting a strategy that could be carried out by institutions to achieve salary equity between male and female faculty. It compares potential strategies based on equity of salary adjustments, political constraints, cost to the institution, and whether the plan removes inequities. Steps in determining…

This volume is a collection of profiles of 130 outstanding Chapter 1 programs across the United States. All of the programs have been given special recognition by the United States Department of Education because they have been unusually successful in meeting the needs of disadvantaged students. The criteria used for judging the effectiveness of a…

The booklet reviews and illustrates program evaluation methods that can be used by providers of services to handicapped infants and their families. It distinguishes between outcome evaluations to determine the effectiveness of service programs and process evaluations to describe the actual activities of service programs and their relation to…

The University of Virginia's retirement incentive program for older, full-time, tenured faculty provided two options: phased retirement and a retirement decision contract establishing a firm retirement date. Evaluation indicates this plan was effective in meeting the interests and needs of participants and the institution and saved institutional…

A study described efforts of 245 schools, colleges, and departments of education (SCDEs) at private, public, and traditionally black institutions to recruit students into preservice teacher preparation programs, and the attitudes of teacher education department heads at those institutions toward several aspects of student recruitment. Results…

Distance education is a current "catch-all" phrase for any form of instruction in which the learner is linked to an educational institution and is formally enrolled, but instruction does not necessarily have to be delivered to or from an official school site. Distance education can provide equity and increase the quality of educational…

This guide highlights issues involved in increasing participation in welfare-to-work programs and offers advice and best practices for achieving higher participation levels. Part 1, "Introduction," has three sections that discuss the importance of participation, summarize major points, and introduce the guide. The seven sections of Part…

Increasingly, schools are beginning employee wellness programs, which encourage employees to make personal commitments to life-style changes that will increase their productivity and generally improve their health. This article provides an introduction to wellness programs, lists advantages, and tells how to start one and make it work. (DCS)

This guidebook is designed to assist high schools and 2-year postsecondary institutions in planning, implementing, and operating occupational program articulation efforts. Chapter 1 presents a retrospective of program articulation and a look at program articulation today, including time-shortened programs, advanced skills programs, and other forms…