People providing services to schools, teachers, and students want to know whether these services are effective. With that knowledge, a project director can expand services that work well and adjust implementation of activities that are not working as expected. When finding that an innovative strategy benefits students, a project director might…

Across OECD countries, the increasing demand for evidence-based policy making has further led governments to design policies jointly with clear measurable objectives, and to define relevant indicators to monitor their achievement. This paper discusses the importance of such indicators in supporting the implementation of education policies.…

Relationships are key to the success of everything higher education hopes to accomplish, from recruiting the next class to retaining them, guiding them to graduation, creating successful alumni, and fostering satisfied donors. Creation of those relationships can be engaged and facilitated by the technology, communications tools, and ideas…

The federal role in higher education has grown over the past two decades, and now a new administration has the opportunity to strengthen policies that support students and their colleges and universities. To help inform these decisions, the Urban Institute convened a bipartisan group of scholars and policy advisers to write a series of memos…

Introduction: We hypothesized that consumers who are blind or visually impaired (that is, those who have low vision) who were served by state vocational rehabilitation agencies with decision-making control over administrative functions would experience better vocational rehabilitation outcomes than consumers served by vocational rehabilitation…

Many school district strategic plans and education conferences are aggressively embracing technology to improve teaching and learning. Classroom technology typically includes blended learning, personalized learning, online courses for students, and professional development for teachers, among many other things. As districts wrestle with tighter…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to describe one Connecticut middle school's voluntary implementation of a data-driven decision making process in order to improve student academic performance. Data-driven decision making is a component of Connecticut's accountability system to assist schools in meeting the requirements of the No…

Surveys examples currently used to plan and conduct evaluations, perceiving a shift from rationalistic (logical positivist) to naturalistic (constructionist) evaluation. Presents a model of evaluation planning, implementation, and management incorporating both examples by calling for evaluative data undergirded by descriptive data generated by an…

The management and evaluation of education programs requires a timely, accurate information system. The discrepancy analysis model described aids in providing this information in a format that may be processed and yields the method by which such a system may be developed and implemented. Building from specific statements of expected project…

A systematic approach for managers to make data-based decisions using management information systems in human services delivery settings is described. It involves a behavioral definition of management information use, the identification of behavior disruptions in information use, and an intervention designed to reduce disruptions and promote use.…

The sequence that the decisions of school management follow is discussed. This sequence follows four major steps: procedural, continuance, dissemination, and reallocation. Each of these steps is directly related to: (1) planned instructional activities, (2) on-going program and administrative practices, and (3) overlapping conditions between newly…

Educators must recognize the inadequacies of their planning, programing, evaluation, and budgeting systems. When these are redeveloped, PPBS will produce the cost/effectiveness data they are really capable of. (WM)

Ways to monitor staff development programs include: (1) counting the number of participants; (2) obtaining participant reactions to programs; and (3) tracking participants by needs, objectives, and inservice topics. A needs assessment model of staff development focuses on information utilization, program impact, and evaluation approaches. (JN)

Stanford University's use of a risk assessment methodology to improve the management of systems development projects is discussed. After examining the concepts of hazard, peril, and risk as they relate to the system development process, three ways to assess risk are covered: size, structure, and technology. The overall objective for Stanford…

PULSE, an executive information system at Dickinson College, has enabled college offices such as admissions, registrar, and development and financial aid to communicate to all senior officers in an accurate, timely, and consistent manner. The system's development and implementation are described. (MLW)