The study discussed in this article assessed the impact of Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) on the Virginia wine grape industry. An online survey was developed and administered to members of the Virginia Vineyards Association. The results indicate that the resources and recommendations VCE and Virginia Tech have provided have been beneficial…

Meeting the needs of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds is a serious concern that schools are facing. This article describes an evaluation of embedding culturally and linguistically diverse evidence-based practices in a master's program for teacher candidates seeking endorsement in special education. A…

The ability to evaluate and accurately articulate the outcomes associated with leadership development programs is critical to their continued financial and administrative support. With calls for outcome-based accountability, the need for rigorous evaluation is particularly relevant for those programs administered through the Cooperative Extension…

Bullying continues to be a major concern in schools today. Many schools have implemented some type of bullying prevention program. The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program is one of these programs. Evaluation of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program is typically done through the administration of the Olweus Bullying Questionnaire to students and…

Care Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRISs) have advanced and matured, a number of states and localities have undertaken evaluations to validate the systems. Such efforts stem from the desire to ensure that the system is designed and operating in the ways envisioned when the system was established. Given that a central component in a QRIS…

Virginia's SHARP logger program is a Cooperative Extension program currently providing training to over 1,500 loggers, foresters, and others. We conducted a mail survey of SHARP loggers to characterize program participants, assess programming needs, and evaluate program effectiveness. Results indicate a diverse group of participants in terms of…

Procedures and guidelines for use by visitation teams were developed and field tested to determine appropriate activities for such teams in the evaluation of vocational education programs in Virginia, and to expand and improve the annual local evaluation as a self-evaluation procedure. A review of the literature was conducted to determine the…

Lack of a curriculum guide, resource guide, and overall guidance prompted the State Agricultural Science and Mechanics Committee to survey the instructors of exploratory agriculture programs in the State in order to develop objectives, goals, and resource materials for the program. Opinions were sought from all of the teachers and supervisors…

This report details the development and evaluation of a model program for inservice training of full-time child day care personnel. Based on a survey of licensed day care centers in Virginia, the program involved 100 participants, ranging from day care aides through center directors. The 10-week training element was presented three successive…

Described are six elementary schools in Virginia that were judged as meeting nine criteria for programs facilitating participatory decision-making by teachers. The term "participatory decision-making" refers to the sharing of decisions on school policies and practices between teachers and school administrators. Information on the…

One objective of this study was to discover whether education of students on the 45-15 plan differed from that provided on the traditional schedule. Another objective was to assess the attitudes of the educators, parents, students, and business people of Prince William County toward the two plans. The educational evaluation compared, across…

The purpose of this pilot program was to test a method of orienting and recruiting high school seniors as prospective industrial arts teachers. Students in grade 11 were identified by contacting administrators, guidance personnel, and industrial arts teachers in 35 Virginia high schools. From these contacts 48 students from 13 schools were…

Prepared as part of a comprehensive study of reading in Virginia, this report contains data gathered in a survey of elementary and secondary reading teachers and specialists and adult basic education teachers to determine teacher needs in that state. The report provides an analysis of the responses to the 72-item questionnaire used in the survey…

The report is a one shot followup study of 128 secondary school students who had completed a health careers course at Jefferson High School in Roanoke, Virginia. The response rate was 87 percent. The former students were surveyed by questionnaire to determine the effectiveness of the program and to provide data relevant to program improvement. It…

This report documents a 2-year research and development project aimed at determining the effects of interdisciplinary teamed instruction (ITI) on teaching and learning. The study also sought to validate the effectiveness of a professional development model that would facilitate development, implementation, and evaluation of ITI. Through summer…