In state needs assessment meetings held in late June 2008, the leadership of two Central Region state departments of education, South Dakota and Missouri, asked Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Central to determine how the states in the region evaluate their supplemental educational service (SES) providers. Specifically, these SEA staff…

This speech discusses the planning for and the implementation of the O.E.O. performance contracting experiments. The author argues that it was not performance contracting, but the O.E.O. experiment which failed. The author blames this failure not so much on the poor evaluation design, but rather on the number of interface problems which arose…

This paper reports an evaluation of a performance contract in reading with 2,500 seventh-grade students. Seventy-five percent of the students were to increase their reading speed five times over their beginning level with ten percent more comprehension after three months of instruction. Results indicated that only thirteen percent of the students…

This paper focused on evaluation efforts related to projects involving performance contracts and some of the major problems encountered. (Author/RK)

This research project represents an attempt to capitalize on the study opportunity provided by the simultaneous operation of seven teacher training programs by one institution and to cope with problems which normally have plagued teacher training program evaluation efforts: lack of validation of performance criteria, nonequivalence of trainees in…

Starting with the second semester of the 1971-72 school year, the Phoenix Union High School System accepted a performance contract with Educators Service Incorporated of Edina, Minnesota. The contract enabled the district to implement a one-semester program, which was a multimedia course consisting of 36 thirty-minute videotaped sessions which…

The Texarkana model of performance contracting consists of five major elements: (1) turnkeying of cost-effective new technology as a basic program goal, (2) use of a performance contract for instruction, (3) use of a management support contractor, (4) selection of the learning system contractor by formal competition, and (5) use of independent…

This guide provides assistance in using two primary management tools--the performance standards and performance-based, fixed unit price contracts--to achieve satisfactory results in Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) programs. The guide is organized in six chapters. Chapter 1 reviews the original purpose of the JTPA and introduces the investment…

This report describes the experimental design, presents the contract provisions, and provides conclusions and recommendations. The document is comprised of five chapters that discuss (1) the statistical analysis methods used, (2) the problems of using standardized tests in performance contracting, (3) the contractual procedures between OEO and the…

Aspects of design and procedures used in the evaluation of a performance contract are discussed, and the project and findings are briefly summarized. The Virginia performance contract in reading was carried out in seven school districts. Evaluation of the project showed that although instructional changes that utilized desirable individualized…

During the first 10 years of reforms, New Zealand schools had two kinds of inspections: assurance (compliance) audits and effectiveness reviews to measure academic performance and contributing factors. In 1998, accountability reviews were introduced to judge whether schools were satisfying their charter (contract) objectives. The program is…

This paper shows that Garfinkel and Gramlich's conclusion about the average performance of the contractors is not supported by the data. The discussion focuses on three issues: (1) The study was conducted in such a way that performance contracting schools and the comparison schools were generally not comparable in terms of initial achievement,…

In September 1999, a pilot program of Education Maintenance Allowances (EMAs) was introduced in 15 local education authorities (LEAs) in England to provide payments to students aged 16-19 who are from low-income families and who are attending full-time courses in schools and colleges. Participants are entitled to 2 years' support and must be…

This Educational Testing Service conference provided an opportunity to clarify many of the issues and problems involved with educational accountability. Among these issues were assessment, evaluation, auditing, and performance contracting. The papers included in these proceedings are: The Means and Ends of Accountability (Terrel H. Bell); Issues…

A report on the Michigan project in performance contracting is presented. In contrast to the Office of Economic Opportunity announcement that performance contracting is a failure, the Michigan program has been successful in the initial stage of a major experiment (Texarkana Project). The state legislature has appropriated $22.5 million for…