This reaction article highlights areas of agreement and disagreement with the study conducted by Hughes, Rycus, Saunders-Adams, Hughes, and Hughes on the current state of research and practice in differential response (DR). Overall, we agree with several of the arguments put forth by Hughes et al. regarding the limitations of DR research and the…

Differential response (DR), also referred to as alternative response (AR), family assessment response (FAR), or multiple track response, was developed to incorporate family-centered, strengths-based practices into child protective services (CPS), primarily by diverting lower risk families into an assessment track rather than requiring the…

The advantages and disadvantages of the evaluation of school health services in the Eugene, Oregon, public school district are discussed as an illustrative case study. The methodology of the work is presented; evaluation results are analyzed; and the reactions of board members and health services personnel are described. (Author/PN)

Dozens of countries have decentralized at least part of their natural resource policies over the last two decades. Despite the length of time that these policy experiments have been in force, there is little agreement about their effectiveness. We argue that part of this ambivalence stems from three limitations of extant studies, suggesting that…

This document, product of a review of eighty-one final performance and evaluation reports of elementary and secondary career education projects to identify needed improvements in career education program evaluation, has four parts. Part I, a critique of common evaluation practices, covers overall evaluation designs, reporting, questionnaires and…

A beverage-server intervention project at two West Coast Navy bases that attempted to reduce levels of alcoholic intoxication via policy changes and server training is described. Data obtained via interviews and structured observations of 1,511 club customers indicate methodological bias and self-selection effects. Bias adjustments were performed…

This study evaluates the effects of the Advanced Placement (AP) Program in the lives of students and investigates the validity of the Advanced Placement Examinations at participating colleges and universities. Nine of the colleges and universities that received the most AP candidates in 1982 were selected for the study. The transcripts of a large…

A centralized evaluation unit within the California State Department of Education is responsible for evaluating programs administered by the state. Focusing on these educational program evaluations, the principal objectives of this study were to: (1) Describe the major components of the current program evaluation system; (2) Examine the planning…

After setting forth eight assumptions concerning the education of educational administrators, findings about the Leadership in Educational Administration Development (LEAD) program are discussed. The analysis is based on the first-year applications, telephone conversations with staff at a majority of the project sites, and additional material…

The practice of interviewing individuals rather than groups has been based largely upon methodological concerns for preventing contamination of data. The assumptions that (1) the data provided by individuals can, in aggregate, yield social truth; (2) individuals are conscious of social phenomena; and (3) the whole of social reality is equal to the…

Designed to identify exemplary strategies and procedures for assessing employer satisfaction with former vocational education students' training and job performance, this handbook provides ideas for initiating such an assessment and for improving upon current assessment practices. It consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the…

This handbook is designed to help local and state vocational education evaluation personnel conduct studies to measure the training and job satisfaction of former vocational education students. It consists of eight chapters. Chapter 1 explains the rationale, development, and organization of the handbook. Chapter 2 is composed of two commissioned…