Results of a study of 30 Indonesian fifth-grade teachers support the value of intensive, research-based teacher training programs in changing teacher behavior and increasing teacher effectiveness. The effect of such programs appears limited to those behaviors and outcomes which reflect the primary focus or emphasis of the program. (IAH)

As a follow-up to 1985 and 1991 efforts to determine its own effectiveness in providing useful information to the college community, the Office of Institutional Research (OIR) at Florida's Miami-Dade Community College conducted a self-evaluation in 1994. Questionnaires were mailed to 296 department chairs, Board members, and other professionals…

The Renewed Primary School project in Belgium is analyzed in this paper in terms of organizational response to a large-scale innovation, which is characterized by its multidimensionality, by the large number of participating schools, and by a complex support structure. Section 2 of the report presents an elaborated description of these…

American taxpayers are currently investing more than $160 billion annually in public elementary and secondary education. Concerned citizens continue to ask: For what purposes is the money being used, and is it accomplishing its purposes? This seven-chapter study addresses these concerns and provides factual answers to related questions about the…

A study examined state-administered vocational education program improvement projects funded in fiscal year (FY) 1985 under subpart 3, sections 131 (research), 132 (exemplary and innovative), and 133 (curriculum development) of the Education Amendments of 1976 (P.L. 94-482). It was determined that more funds are being obligated for supportive…

The Youth Employment and Demonstration Projects Act of 1977 (YEDPA) provided the mandate and resources for experimental and demonstration activity to determine the most effective means to alleviate the employment problems of economically disadvantaged youth. An immediate need was to establish plans and priorities for research, evaluation, and…

In order to identify and develop procedures for complying with the impact requirements of Public Law 94-482, Project IMPACT studied five problems: (l) how to define impact, (2) how to assess impact, (3) how to show cause and effect relationships between research and development (R&D) activities and changes in the vocational education…

The Worker Profiling and Reemployment Services (WPRS) program requires states to establish systems for identifying Unemployment Insurance (UI) claimants likely to exhaust their UI benefits and refers them to reemployment services. An evaluation was conducted to assess the reliability of the impact estimates provided in the evaluation of the WPRS…

This paper examines how to increase the national vocational education and training (VET) research effort in Australia and the mechanisms to increase the knowledge about and use of research results. Section 1, "Introduction," addresses the rapid change in VET and importance of a national VET research effort. Section 2, "Increasing…

A project in Louisiana surveyed local vocational education programs and local application plans and compared them to assessed needs, skill levels, and quality program standards. The project was implemented through nine strategies, which included project staff development, assessment of local plans, needs assessment, development of an assessment…

This document contains a literature review conducted as part of a study to develop criteria to measure the extent of implementation and the effectiveness of demonstration projects in vocational education. The literature review serves two purposes: it establishes the state of the art in measuring the effectiveness of educational innovations and it…

This document presents the plan for the conduct of eight case studies of federally and state-administered demonstration projects to assess the usefulness and practicality of a monograph discussing the improvement and measurement of the impact of vocational education demonstration projects. An introduction discusses the background and purpose of…

The research and development (R&D) projects funded by the Florida Division of Vocational Education are intended to have utility for vocational educators in their efforts to improve vocational education programs and practices. This project was conducted to determine why some R&D products are accepted by potential users while others are not…

Since the early 1980s, blue ribbon commissions and task forces have focused their attention upon identifying problems and suggesting solutions to shortcomings within the public educational system. Some of the questions that can be raised include the following: (1) Who are these citizens interested in educational practices? (2) What solutions have…

The National Assessment is a plan for a systematic survey of knowledges, skills, understandings, and attitudes. The development of citizenship assessment described in this paper typifies the processes undergone for each subject--art, career and occupational development, citizenship, literature, mathematics, music, reading, science, social studies,…