Whole-school or whole-class programs designed to promote positive behavior can enhance the likelihood that effective teaching and learning occur for all students. This practice guide is intended to help elementary education educators, as well as school and district administrators and parents, implement and support effective prevention-focused…

This guide is addressed to policy officials, program providers, and researchers who are seeking to: (1) identify and implement social programs backed by valid evidence of effectiveness; or (2) sponsor or conduct an evaluation to determine whether a program is effective. The guide provides a brief overview of which studies can produce valid…

The paper maintains that impact evaluation studies of programs serving handicapped infants and preschoolers should be restricted to scientifically defendable investigations. Specific types of impact studies and an evaluation process are suggested. It is suggested that program leaders should focus evaluation activities on the status of project…

Principles of program evaluation research are outlined so that bilingual education program coordinators can conduct methodologically acceptable program evaluations. The three basic principles of evaluation research are: identification of the program participants, definition of the program intervention, and assessment of program effectiveness.…

This monograph describes three types of evaluation that are potentially useful to school-based clinics: needs assessments, process evaluations, and impact evaluations. Two important methodological principles are involved: (1) collecting multiple kinds of data with multiple methods; and (2) collecting comparison data. Student needs can be…

This report, prepared by the Delinquency and School Environments Program of the Center for Social Organization of Schools, presents a set of standards for implementing Program Development Evaluation (PDE), a method for strengthening school organizational and research effectiveness. This report supplements an earlier account of the Program…

The evaluation of gifted programs is examined in terms of setting group and individual goals, measurement problems (validity, reliability, precision, ceiling effect, and overtesting), comparison groups (national norms or pre- and posttesting), and implementing evaluation strategies. (DB)

Evaluating the effectiveness of career guidance programs is a complex process, and few comprehensive models for evaluating such programs exist. Evaluation of career guidance programs has been hampered by the myth that program outcomes are uniform and monolithic. Findings from studies of attribute treatment interactions have revealed only a few…

This document is the fifth volume of a six-volume report on sexuality education. This volume is based on the methods used and the experiences encountered in the evaluation of the nine exemplary sexuality education programs contained in the first volume of the report. The present volume discusses the need for evaluation of sexuality education…

Offers a critique of the final report of the Head Start Evaluation, Synthesis, and Utilization Project. Points raised include the following: studies considered by the report are not based on a representative sample of Head Start sites; findings are based on studies of both low and high quality; and evaluations do not offer the only rationale for…

Thirteen evaluations of programs to prevent child abuse and neglect are reviewed. The evaluations were characterized by careful attention to methodologic detail but lacked definitions of abuse or neglect. Important topics are omitted, such as the consequences and costs of medical neglect. (Author/JDD)

This manual, developed in an effort to take the mysticism out of program evaluation, discusses six phases of the program evaluation process. The introduction discusses reasons for evaluation, process and outcome evaluation, the purpose of the handbook, the evaluation process, and the Sequoia United School District Dropout Prevention Program. Phase…

The Project on Secondary Analysis directed its attention to methodology and policy issues, focusing on reanalysis of existing data (1979-82)--surveys, program evaluations, etc.--as a vehicle for learning how to improve methods of obtaining and analyzing data, designing program evaluations, and constructing policy to enhance the quality and utility…

Presents three categories of approaches to assess the impact of college supplemental instruction (SI) programs on an institution: anecdotal information; descriptive statistics; and inferential statistics. For SI programs required to justify their existence, these methods include a range of assessment devices from simple testimony to rigorous…

The guide to self-study of programs teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) contains a series of essays on aspects of the self-study process and products. "Part One: Insights into the Self-Study Process" includes the following articles: "The TESOL Self-Study Program" (Ann C. Wintergerst, Carol J. Kreidler); and "Undertaking a…