This chapter describes the historical and contemporary theoretical underpinnings of learning communities and argues that there is a need for more complex models in conceptualizing and assessing their effectiveness.

A hallmark of the US education system is the opportunity afforded to students to pursue education and career paths of their own choosing. This flexibility and autonomy, however, has drawbacks. Students must navigate a series of complex and often disconnected environments, as well as numerous decision points, before they attain a fulfilling career.…

Due to the declining state of the current economy, a greater demand is being placed on student affairs professionals to provide evidence of the success of their programs, their impact on student learning and development and overall contributions to the undergraduate learning experience. It is a growing imperative that student affairs professionals…

Needs assessment plays an important role in training and human performance improvement efforts, but the literature contains little research on this topic. This study extended previous research on the Performance Analysis for Training (PAT) model of needs assessment by examining its implementation to determine environmental and occupational health…

Presents a rationale for conducting training needs assessment and discusses types of analyses: organizational, task, and individual. Compares advantages and disadvantages of the following assessment methods: surveys, interviews, performance appraisals, observations, tests, assessment centers, focus groups, document reviews, and advisory…

This article, written by Fiona Hallett, pathway leader for the inclusion and special educational needs masters programmes at Edge Hill University, Graham Hallett, senior lecturer for special educational needs and inclusion at the University of Cumbria, and Mary McAteer, programme leader for an M level professional development programme at Edge…

Research using educational data includes both disciplinary and pedagogic research. Concentrating on pedagogic research into singlar cases, rather than into generalities, would improve the quality of education. Such research would mean more emphasis on case studies, probes (account of a method for analyzing practice to improve it), and curriculum…

This manual (and an accompanying video) is a literacy audit tool to help adult education practitioners find out how their clients and staff rate their organization's success in meeting the literacy needs of clients. The manual also contains background information about literacy and suggestions on how to use the literacy audit to help an…

To identify management development needs some organizations have adopted the assessment center method, using simulations of work situations performed before and evaluated by specially trained observers (assessors). (MF)

This paper discusses the role of the Speech Communication Association regarding issues of assessment and testing in speech communication in the public schools. The paper describes the genesis of the 1990 summer assessment conference for oral communication skills (held in Denver, Colorado), outlines the goals undertaken, enumerates the resolutions…

This document is the third in a series of collection of papers from workshops sponsored by the Faculty of Education at the Western Australian Institute of Technology. It contains three papers from a seminar on educational evaluation held early in 1984. The papers present ideas involving the need for the evaluation of instruction within school…

The practical side of a program evaluation as performed at a Texas Education Service Center supporting and serving 50 school districts of 14 counties in South Texas is described. The role of the evaluators as perceived by the users of the evaluation and the procedures for evaluating programs several levels away from students who are to feel the…

This report describes a needs survey administered at the first National Bilingual Education Management Institute. The purpose of the survey was to discover the major needs for evaluation training in bilingual programs. The survey dealt with the following areas of concern: identification of evaluation topics that would be useful and of interest to…

A variety of special needs programs were funded by the Michigan Department of Education in 1972. Data collection instruments were developed to evaluate these programs and data were gathered. This initial effort was important in the movement toward implementation of a more sophisticated evaluation design. Specifically, the paper discussed the final…

The document presents guidelines for planning, implementing, and documenting training effectiveness evaluations. The guidelines are intended to assist researchers in coping with many of the constraints associated with executing empirical research in operational settings. (NTIS)