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 report presents the methods and findings of a study to compile information regarding professional development practices at institutions in the League for Innovation in the Community College, a consortium of 19 community college districts. Following background information on the League, and introductory information on the purposes of and…

The Electronic Telecommunications System project was conceived to assist in the integration of telecommunications technologies such as electronic mail into adult and vocational education programs. After identifying and evaluating over 20 vendors and electronic mail systems, the researchers selected the ITT Dialcom system as the subject of a three…

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…

Three telecourse programs offering high school credit courses via interactive satellite communication are described and evaluated. German by Satellite and Physics by Satellite from Oklahoma State University feature biweekly 40-minute broadcasts with audio interaction via regular telephone lines and microcomputer voice recognition software at…

The Displaced Homemakers Network surveyed its 425 programs in the winter of 1985 to determine the extent and nature of services to displaced homemakers under the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA). Also sought was information about the barriers to JTPA that kept program operators from bidding successfully for contracts. Finally, the survey…

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…

At Colorado Northwestern Community College (CNCC), all educational programs, as well as student services and support functions, are formally reviewed/evaluated in depth at least once every five years. This nine-part outline, providing a step-by-step description of the program review process at CNCC, includes the following sections: (1) the value…