Evaluation reports increasingly document the degree of program implementation, particularly the extent to which programs adhere to prescribed steps and procedures. Many reports are cursory, however, and few, if any, fully portray the long and winding path taken when developing evaluation instruments, particularly observation instruments. In this…

The purpose of this document is to establish the minimum standards for approval of programs which meet the requirements of the Standards of Accreditation adopted by the State Board of Education February 22, 1984, and have been effective since June 1, 1987. Included are guidelines, which enable school districts to: (1) Establish equitable criteria…

This paper examines the extent to which legitimacy affects program continuation, and focuses on the process by which programs attempt to maintain legitimate status through conformity with the larger environment. Legitimacy is defined as cultural support from a program's larger environment, such as the school district or community. An innovative…

Schools of the Dallas Independent School District have developed procedures to implement and monitor school improvement measures. The district aims to improve student achievement in four areas: functional literacy, mathematics, reading, and basic language arts. Participants in instructional improvement include teachers, principals, administrators,…

A plan has been initiated in Georgia to ensure that project directors and evaluators are cognizant of and organized to meet criteria specified in the Identification, Validation, and Dissemination (IVD) guidelines. The evaluation/validation process involves eight steps: (1) evaluator training, (2) proposal screening, (3) critique of evaluation…

This study was the second year of a project that attempted to formulate criteria for project evaluation and funding decisions. Activities were designed to produce measures of project impact for vocational education projects. The second year's work focused on refinement of impact variables, and a survey of directors of vocational education…

The state validation process in New York identifies promising practices developed through the Elementary Secondary Education Act Title IV-C funding. The new validation procedures included in this handbook are revised to: (1) make the evaluation process easier to apply; (2) provide technical assistance in evaluating the project; (3) extend…

The purpose of this paper is to review some of the methods used for the impact evaluation of Demonstrator-Developer projects and to promote the meta-analysis approach. Four examples of attempts to collect and analyze impact data from adopters are presented, one of which used the meta-analysis approach. In this example, each adopter collected pre…

Describes a study sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education which identified 62 outstanding library programs and lists 22 model school library programs and 16 programs serving school systems. Topics discussed include the search process, selection criteria, school library programs, cooperation, innovations, technology, and the catalog that…

This paper reviews evaluations of social programs and major approaches to program evaluation. Its purpose is to examine the roles that philosophy, ideology, key audiences, preferred methods, and typical evaluation questions can play in the practices of contemporary evaluators. The report describes the Learning Connections Projects, a program that…

Application review is the most important part of the Department of Education's funding process and is designed to ensure that projects are worthwhile and that awards are fair and impartial. The critical step in application review is competitive, objective evaluation by reviewers. This workbook was developed by the Department of Education to…

Findings of a study that evaluated the Spencerport, New York, "More Effective Schools/Teaching Project" and examined the project's validation process are presented in this paper. The program model was based on change at the individual school level, administrator/staff collegiality, comprehensive interventions based on school culture, and…

This paper discusses how developmental programs in Georgia obtain and maintain their status as "Training Center." The establishment in Houston County, Georgia of a "Training Center," an innovative school outreach program that disseminates an early intervention program for high-risk 6-year olds, exemplifies how outreach services…

This report records the development and validation by Abt Associates, Inc. of utilization materials developed to accompany the two U.S. Office of Education film series, Jackson Junior High and Dial A-L-C-O-H-O-L. The first section describes the process by which the nine project products were developed. These products include the following: (1) a…

This paper describes a case study evaluation of the first year of an inservice staff development program in Galax City Schools, Virginia. The program was designed to teach teachers how to deliver subject matter associated with "The Teaching of Thinking Skills Program," sponsored by a Chapter II Competitive Block Grant. The program had…