Differential response (DR), also referred to as alternative response (AR), family assessment response (FAR), or multiple track response, was developed to incorporate family-centered, strengths-based practices into child protective services (CPS), primarily by diverting lower risk families into an assessment track rather than requiring the…

Dozens of countries have decentralized at least part of their natural resource policies over the last two decades. Despite the length of time that these policy experiments have been in force, there is little agreement about their effectiveness. We argue that part of this ambivalence stems from three limitations of extant studies, suggesting that…

A brief overview of the status, as of August 1990, of the 1990 decennial census conducted by the U.S. Department of Commerce is presented. Topics include: the recanvassing effort for following up on the census proper; the effects of reinstitution of unemployment benefits for all temporary census employees; completion of the initial interviewing…

Sharp limitations on measuring the impact of Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) can be largely overcome by developing an improved system and techniques for planning projects and their likely effects. The distinguishing characteristics of VISTA for measurement purposes are: a large number of volunteer program activities and sponsors, hence…

The experience of a research group in studying Neighborhood Youth Corps (NYC) programs provides the framework for a discussion of the methodological difficulties of conducting research on disadvantaged groups. However, the report does not deal with the programs and operations of NYC itself. Four problem areas are described: (1) criterion, program,…

A centralized evaluation unit within the California State Department of Education is responsible for evaluating programs administered by the state. Focusing on these educational program evaluations, the principal objectives of this study were to: (1) Describe the major components of the current program evaluation system; (2) Examine the planning…