Purpose: Program planning and evaluation is an essential course for undergraduate and graduate students in health education/public health programs. The purpose of this study was to three-fold: 1) identify students' attitudes and behaviors towards civic engagement, 2) measure the importance of undergraduate collaboration with community partners,…

This article explores issues that had to be confronted over a three-year period in terms of two New York State funded grants for which I was the evaluator. Major, critical challenges are presented, described, and discussed. Specifically, the paper addresses issues related to lack of planning at the grant design stage that resulted in challenges…

This article describes the Social Entrepreneurship for Poverty Alleviation (SEPA) grant-writing program at Austin College. The SEPA program provides a service-learning experience in which students spend a summer writing grants with local nonprofit agencies. In the hope that others might choose to emulate our efforts, what follows is a detailed…

Increasing adoption and adaptation of promising instructional strategies and materials has been identified as a critical component needed to improve science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This paper examines typical propagation practices and resulting outcomes of proposals written by developers of educational…

In January 2011, a Joint Committee of representatives from the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) began work to establish cross-agency guidelines for improving the quality, coherence, and pace of knowledge development in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. Although the…

The Obama administration has offered states the chance to waive some requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. States are required, however, to make specific reforms in exchange for increased flexibility. The administration has been clear it wants states to engage in "ambitious but achievable" reforms rather than merely asking for a pass from…

This document, "Book Two of Four: Planning and Developing an LDS", is the second installment of this Forum (National Forum on Education Statistics) series of guides on longitudinal data systems (LDS). This second book in the guide series delves into the planning, implementation, and evaluation phases of a longitudinal data system (LDS)…

The authors present an approach for educating future evaluators by connecting evaluation theory and practice, organizational development, and grant making through experiential learning. They position this discussion on the conceptual framework of a newly developed graduate-level evaluation course, Advanced Program Development and Evaluation, which…

The Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI) is a bold approach to improving student learning by encouraging teachers, parents, and the community to work collaboratively to introduce innovative projects that address local needs. Initiated in 1999 by the Alberta Government and its partners, AISI provides targeted funding to school…

It is suggested that educational objectives lack clarity since they are caught between the paradigms of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. A qualitative evaluation process is proposed, wherein rationale theory is compared to practice. Quantitative information may constitute part of the data, but is not an objective in itself. (AEF)

The guide is designed as a tool that can be used to write a proposal for funding from Public Law (PL) 89-313 (which amended the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965). Grant awards under PL 89-313 are available to eligible State-operated and State-supported agencies serving handicapped children. After an overall needs assessment, the…

Grant writing is not as daunting a task as it may seem--at least not when there are experts to guide you. In the first half of this book, the authors explain what every grant writer needs to know and do to successfully secure funding. Readers will learn the following: (1) How to locate different kinds of grant sponsors; (2) How to understand the…

Advice for adventure-based counseling (ABC) programs seeking funding includes setting realistic goals, designing an evaluation that matches program resources, and keeping it simple. Low recidivism is most important to grantors. Published research on ABC is scarce, but on-site process research generates useful data, and local schools and agencies…

The Orange County, Florida, public school system conducted a review of its Project Development Services (PDS) to determine its organizational operation and performance. PDS helps increase supplementary school funding from federal, state, local, and private foundation sources. The evaluation of PDS revealed several areas of concern: meeting needs…

Intended for use by practitioners in the private and public sectors as well as by students, this book emphasizes writing techniques for internal and external proposals. The book stresses the competitive nature of proposals, the need to improve writing skills, the need for audience analysis, and the need to understand how presentation affects…