In 2006, six community and technical colleges in Washington State joined the innovative national reform initiative called Achieving the Dream (ATD). This report describes the progress each college made in implementing ATD's "culture of evidence" principles for institutional improvement, examines strategies implemented by the colleges to…

When charter schools first arrived on the American educational scene, few observers suspected that within two decades thousands of these schools would be established, serving almost a million and a half children across forty states. The widespread popularity of these schools, and of the charter movement itself, speaks to the unique and chronic…

Four fundamental issues in program evaluation are discussed: (1) evaluations involve stakeholders with diverse interests; (2) data involve some degree of subjectivity; (3) meaningful interpretation of results requires understanding of the assumptions on which results are based; and (4) programs are dynamic and require flexible evaluations.…

Primary purpose of evaluation is to cause educators to look at the process and the product of education and to utilize evaluation data as a corrective tool. (Authors)

Intended for researchers and professionals, this report provides a detailed review of planning strategies, action steps, and outcomes of the National Dissemination Project for Post-Secondary Education from 1972 to 1974. Drawing on the background that led to the project, the report covers the planning stages in detail and provides comprehensive…

The synthesis presents an initial overview of five investigations of educational dissemination and change in American schools and the implications of these studies for policy making related to federal and state dissemination programs, management of such programs, and needed research, development, and evaluation. A brief synopsis of each study was…

Reviewing five large-scale investigations of educational dissemination and change, this report synthesizes and consolidates their findings and implications around an issue of common interest to policymakers, program administrators, and researchers: what can be learned from these studies about processes and procedures that facilitate knowledge…

This article presents seven reports on the interviews about reception and use of international indicators among respondents from Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and United Kingdom. The first report is based on interviews with 5 respondents occupied with different aspects of the macro level of the Flemish educational system.…

The dilemmas faced by the educational research community generally raise important implications for the new National Institute of Education. Pressing social problems require immediate solution, however, demands for immediate results in the complex problem areas of education may lead to incompletely conceived programs and sloppy scholarship.…

In 1995-1996, the United Kingdom's Further Education Development Agency examined approaches to delivery of career education/guidance in further education (FE) programs and the roles of career service and college staff in career education/guidance. Data were collected through surveys of approximately 450 colleges in England and Wales and 28 career…

Throwing the proverbial monkey wrench into the machinery "on paper" before a system begins functioning seems to be essential to program evaluation. This activity should be performed by the "resident skeptic" who is familiar with past resistance to change and who, being familiar with a program, is able to foresee theoretical and…

This document presents tools and guidelines to help practitioners transform their high schools into institutions facilitating community-connected learning. The approach underpinning the tools and guidelines is based on the following principles: academic rigor and relevance; personalized learning; self-passage to adulthood; and productive learning…