This study uses a randomized design to assess the impact of the Balanced Leadership program on principal leadership, instructional climate, principal efficacy, staff turnover, and student achievement in a sample of rural northern Michigan schools. Participating principals report feeling more efficacious, using more effective leadership practices,…

Despite growing calls for more accountability of teacher education programs (TEPs), there is little consensus about how to evaluate them. This study investigates the potential for using observational ratings of program completers to evaluate TEPs. Drawing on statewide data on almost 9,500 program completers, representing 44 providers (183…

We use data from a randomized controlled trial of a middle school science intervention to explore the causal mechanisms by which the intervention produced previously documented gains in student achievement. Our study finds that implementation fidelity, operationalized as a measure of the frequency of implementation of the cognitive science…

This article investigates the differences in academic achievement trajectories from elementary through middle school among English Learner (EL) students in four different instructional programs: English Immersion (EI), Transitional Bilingual (TB), Developmental Bilingual (DB), and Dual Immersion (DI). Comparing students with the same parental…

A brief description of the development of the ESEA Title I evaluating and reporting system is provided. An analysis and assessment of the kinds of concerns state evaluation officers have about implementing the new guidelines are outlined. Appropriate recommendations based on the findings are provided. (Author/AL)

This is a study of distributed leadership in the context of elementary schools' adoption of comprehensive school reforms (CSR). Most CSRs are designed to configure school leadership by defining formal roles, and we hypothesized that such programs activate those roles by defining expectations for and socializing (e.g., through professional…

This article examines some of the reasons attempts to tighten the couplings between legislative and judicial intent and site level implementation have remained problematic. Specifically, this article argues that the assumption that program evaluation can force program implementation is faulty. (Author/BW)

Four innovative educational and three criminal justice programs were studied to determine whether dissemination/implementation with close fidelity to the original model or implementation according to local needs was more effective. Well-operationalized programs were usually adopted and implemented with fidelity acceptable to program developers.…

ifferent evaluation models were applied to data from a high school career education program to investigate problems in statistical conclusion validity and program effectiveness judgments. If potential threats to internal validity are analyzed and protection strategies are developed, more confidence in unplanned ex post facto design using a…

An intergovernment program implementation framework is shown to be strongly affected by the way federal expectations and administrative actions interact with the state and local education agency programs. They can influence the components of categories of implementation factors, process variables, and the agency role orientations. (CM)

A meta analysis of preschool intervention programs is performed to arrive at an overall effect size of such programs. Results indicate that despite the diversities in intervention sites, ages of subjects, lengths of intervention, and curricula models, there is a positive homogeneous effect on the variables. (Author/LMO)

A multilevel analysis strategy developed by Leigh Burstein termed slopes-as-outcomes provides a means to address questions concerning equity in educational research. This potential strategy for studying differences in program implementation relates to differences in program effectiveness across sites. (SLD)

A liberal interpretation of Section 151 of Public Law 93-380, to implement effective local evaluation of Title I programs, is supported. Weaknesses are cited: (1) nationwide impact data, (2) unsound aggregation of Title I achievement gains, and (3) lack of consideration of alternative evaluation methods. (MH)