Current economic conditions and the increasing competition for government funding are leading to an increased focus on the impact of research. Measuring the impact of research is difficult because not all impacts are direct and some can be negative or result from the identification of problems that require a non-research response. The time between…

Ethical issues; institutional characteristics and organizational arrangements; and roles and skills of the researcher must be considered if the government is to apply social science research findings more widely for the public good. (Available from: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 433 California St., San Francisco, CA 94104, single issue, $6.95.) (Author/GDC)

A study of the National Institute of Education's Research and Development Utilization (RDU) program illuminates several policy choices for federal and state support of dissemination and school improvement projects. RDU was established in 1976 to disseminate educational materials and thereby help schools clarify and solve local problems. Seven…

Analysis of the history of Chapter 1, the Federal program for the education of the disadvantaged, and a review of the research into the program's effectiveness show the inefficiency of Federal influence and funds in local schools. Chapter 1 has done little good for students: it has neither raised the achievement of the educationally deprived and…

Although the evaluation of Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title I programs was mandated with its passage in 1965, the emphasis on evaluation increased in 1974 with the incorporation of Section 151. That section was redesignated in 1978 as Section 183. Section 183 included the directive that evaluations be conducted every third year, to…

An evaluation team was formed to sponsor research designed to improve the conduct and utilization of federally funded evaluations. The research projects assigned to the team reflected existing priorities for evaluation research, mainly by third party studies of existing urban area educational programs. It was found that something was seriously…

Questions are raised about the future of research and development evaluation. Without a set of overarching policy questions or theoretical questions, evaluation data are simply not cumulative and cannot be organized into any data base. Education has never been a data-based enterprise. The meaning of evaluation should be broadened to include the…

This report contains a review and analysis of technical assistance given to the National Diffusion Network (NDN) by the Technical Assistance Advisory Group (TAAG). Following an outline of TAAG's aims and methods, the history of technical assistance to the NDN is reviewed. Current activities of the technical assistance contractors are outlined and…

In an interview with Albert H. Quie, governor of Minnesota, he gives his opinion about the impact of research studies or educational evaluation on policy decision making in Congress, and the role of Congressional Committee staff members. (MH)

An evaluation of the Research and Development Centers and the Regional Educational Laboratories of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) was conducted by an outside analyst brought in in September 1991 by then Assistant Secretary Diane Ravitch. The Research and Development Centers have been one of the primary sources of…

This policy paper includes four perspectives on educational quality presented at the 1983 annual meeting of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Gwen Morgan considers the role of government, raising questions about what regulatory agencies should do, can do, and cannot do in the light of public attitudes. Ways that…

The conference reported in this document sought to do the following: (1) focus attention on the problem of underachieving minority students, and issue a call for action to improve their educational achievement; (2) promote dialogue on promising practices aimed at solving the problem; (3) foster collaboration on solutions among practitioners,…

Recent efforts to build economic and work force development systems in seven leading cities were reviewed to inform similar efforts undertaken in Baltimore, Maryland. Research examining efforts to establish work force development systems in the following cities were analyzed: Austin, Texas; Berkeley, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Cleveland,…