The number of family child care (FCC) providers in the U.S. is declining at an alarming rate. From 2011 to 2017, there was a 35% decrease in FCC homes (National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance, 2019). Considering the substantial portion of child care that is represented in home-based child care (HBCC), a heightened level of concern is…

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) Office of Inspector General (OIG) Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years (FY) 2023 through 2028 represents the planned direction of the organization for FYs 2023-2028. It continues the 40-plus year commitment to the mission to promote the efficiency, effectiveness, and integrity of the Department's programs…

The Local Child Outcomes Measurement System (L-COMS) is a framework that identifies seven key components of a high-quality child outcomes measurement system at the local level. The L-COMS framework was designed to apply to all local programs regardless of their specific child outcomes measurement approach. Development of the L-COMS originated with…

The "NCTQ Teacher Prep Review" evaluates the quality of programs that provide preservice preparation of public school teachers. This appendix describes the scope, methodology, timeline, staff, and standards involved in the production of "Teacher Prep Review 2014." Data collection, validation, and analysis for the report are…

Program and/or course evaluation is, in fact, one of the essential aspects of any curriculum. It is a kind of quality control in which various aspects of an instructional program are explored. Program evaluation is an attempt in which different elements of a given curriculum are scrutinized in depth. To this end, an evaluator makes every effort to…

The challenge faced by senior facility leaders is not how to execute a single project, but rather, how to successfully execute a large program consisting of hundreds of projects. Senior facilities officers at universities, school districts, hospitals, airports, and other organizations with extensive facility inventories, typically manage project…

The purpose of the state education agency (SEA) is to focus the entire education system on helping students become capable in college and career in an increasingly complex world. One of the most vexing problems facing SEAs today is how to meet increasing demands for performance while adjusting to significant resource reductions. Meeting that…

"Degrees of Freedom" challenges California to include currently and formerly incarcerated students in the vision set by the state's 1964 Master Plan for Higher Education--a vision of college access for all, for the benefit of the entire state. A college education strengthens economies, changes lives and renews communities, and yet, for…

In this paper, the author considers certain aspects of the problem of obtaining unbiased information about the merits of a program or product, whether for purposes of decision making or for accountability. The evaluation of personnel, as well as the evaluation of proposals and evaluations, generally involves a different set of problems than those…

The implementation of Part C of IDEA has continued to evolve as states have built and modified service delivery systems. The number of children served has increased dramatically with nearly 350,000 children and their families now receiving early intervention services. Meanwhile, challenges to the provision of quality services--such as securing…

Programme evaluation is essential for quality assurance in education. In this paper, we describe our evaluation strategy for the first year of a new medical programme. Although we used multiple methods in the evaluation, the use of the focus group method was core. This paper reports our experiences of focus groups for this purpose. We describe the…

In contrast to the long-standing history of assessment in secular higher education, religious institutions have not been at the cutting edge of assessment, evaluation, and research. However, external pressures on institutions have led to a self-examined life, use of reliable indicators of institutional performance, and development of comprehensive…

This article demonstrates the value of theoretical ex-ante evaluation of policy programs. We show how a specific policy might not achieve its objectives and illustrate the elements of the policy, which need improvement. These conclusions are based on a reconstruction and evaluation of the theory behind a policy program that aims to increase…

The Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) "Guide to Accreditation" includes a full description of TEAC's principles and standards, the accreditation process and audit, and detailed instruction on writing the "Brief." This revision includes expanded information on (1) preparing an "Inquiry Brief Proposal" and the audit of the "Inquiry…

The Higher Learning Commission (HLC), a commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), accredits Wyoming's seven community colleges. Institutional accreditation is a voluntary process that serves the critical purposes of quality assurance and institutional and program improvement. Colleges that are accredited by the HLC…