The report of the national response to intervention (RTI) evaluation study, conducted during 2011-2012, was released in November 2015. Anyone who has read the lengthy report can attest to its complexity and the design used in the study. Both these factors can influence the interpretation of the results from this evaluation. In this commentary, we…

The focus of this chapter is on the evidence to date that documents the impact of PDS engagement on four specific groups of participants: veteran P-12 teachers, university faculty, P-12 school principals, and parents and community members. In reviewing the literature concerning the impact of PDS engagement on these four groups, the authors'…

The professional development school (PDS) is a model of choice for many teacher preparation programs. This approach integrates the functions of teacher preparation, professional development, inquiry and research, and student achievement to bring about whole-school improvement and the simultaneous renewal of the teaching profession. Ideally,…

Treatment integrity (also referred to as "treatment fidelity," "intervention integrity," and "procedural reliability") is an important methodological concerning both research and practice because treatment integrity data are essential to making valid conclusions regarding treatment outcomes. Despite its relationship to validity, treatment…

This special series focused on treatment integrity in the child mental health and education field is timely. The articles do a laudable job of reviewing (a) the current status of treatment integrity research and measurement, (b) existing conceptual models of treatment integrity, and (c) the limitations of prior research. Overall, this thoughtful…

National Institute of Education (NIE) research priorities indicate the use of panel measures only during the time children are in Follow Through programs and further seem to indicate that only implementation variables should be measured. This paper raises questions about the desirability of the narrow focus implied by the NIE priorities, the…

Research has inadequately examined why health has become a problem in the day care setting. Health regulations for day care have not been researched in the day care setting per se but have been imposed on day care by the medical community working from a hospital model. Day care research has presumed that having antecedent health regulations in…

The case history explains the techniques used to introduce research methodology into a service agency for the visually handicapped. (BD)

In this overview, the author discusses the need for art therapy research, problems it entails, and types of research approaches which may be used. Appended is a commentary by Janie Rhyne outlining the design of her own research. This article is part of a theme issue on art therapy. (SJL)

Documenting treatment integrity is an important issue in research and practice in any discipline concerned with prevention and intervention. However, consensus concerning the dimensions of treatment integrity and how they should be measured has yet to emerge. Advances from three areas in which significant treatment integrity work has taken…

The concept of treatment integrity cuts across a diversity of fields involved with providing treatments or interventions to individuals. In medical treatments, the concept of "treatment compliance" or "treatment adherence" is an important and problematic issue. In the field of nutrition, the concept of "dietary adherence" is important for…

This paper is devoted to an analysis of the "Standards for Evaluation of Educational Programs, Projects, and Materials" as they apply to qualitative data. The most difficult ethical problem arises from the conflict between the right to privacy of research subjects and the right to know of audiences. There are two technical points in the…

Thirteen evaluations of programs to prevent child abuse and neglect are reviewed. The evaluations were characterized by careful attention to methodologic detail but lacked definitions of abuse or neglect. Important topics are omitted, such as the consequences and costs of medical neglect. (Author/JDD)

This paper focuses on transition programs for youth to postsecondary education, broadly considered. It addresses the following questions: (1) What models or programs of transition exist? (2) On what basis can we say one transition program is more effective than another? In other words, how is successful transition defined? (3) How are…

Although important progress has been made in educational evaluation during the past decade new problems believed to be more serious threaten the progress that has been made. These problems are said to be a mixture of logistics and politics and are in large part an outgrowth of the increasing pluralism of American society. (Author/AM)