Postsecondary early awareness strategies are a fast-growing component of college access to attainment efforts. Broadly defined, these programs and policies encourage low-income and first-generation students to gain the information, skills, and resources they need to successfully take part in higher education. They focus on students in fifth…

This study of services to young children with special needs in Massachusetts was conducted for the Early Childhood Project, Division of Special Education, Massachusetts Department of Education. The report contains the following: (1) an evaluation of activities carried out between October 1979 and August 1980 by the Birth to Six Project in…

Assessment and evaluation can be important tools in improving the effectiveness and quality of programs, especially criminal justice programs, if they are integrated into the plans and designs of strategies instead of being added later. An evaluation systems approach to program development is needed to ensure that effectiveness and efficiency are…

Public/Private Ventures Inc. conducted a 30-month study of AmeriCorps, the signature program of the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993. The central emphasis of this study was to examine the role of the states in implementing the new AmeriCorps program. The experience of 20 programs in 9 study states was documented through 4 visits to…

As states confront budget shortfalls, investment in mental health services faces the chopping block. Almost every state has instituted cost containment strategies in its Medicaid programs and state policymakers have begun to cut services for people with mental health treatment needs. The first part of this report presents research on state cuts to…

The Research in Teacher Education (RITE) study is currently examining in depth two selected state-mandated induction programs for beginning teachers. The sample includes 16 first year teachers (along with the teachers, administrators, and other educators selected to work with them) situated in 13 schools in 4 districts in 2 states. Data were…

Evaluation of state advanced technology programs has begun in response to budget reviews. Issues include: (1) political and institutional contexts of evaluation; (2) technical issues concerning outcome specifications, use of process indicators, and dependence on self-reported assessments; and (3) use of evaluation in policy making. (TJH)

The educational reform strategies of Texas, California, and South Carolina are examined as they relate to reform outcomes. The current effort toward educational excellence must shift its focus from regulation and compliance monitoring to mobilization of institutional capacity. (SLD)

Discusses the roles played by participants and the processes involved in a provincial standards-setting exercise for a large-scale assessment of student skills. Offers perspectives of a policy maker outside the exercise and an insider participant. Describes alternate notions of representativeness, stakes, and significance. (SLD)

Rigorous evaluations of welfare-to-work programs have had a major impact on the formation of policy in the area of welfare reform, but it is not clear whether the high level of evaluation, especially with regard to randomized experiments, and impact can continue. Evaluators must strive for research methodologies that provide results for policy…

This report contains suggestions for state level policy that move away from the deficit model of intervention and toward a policy of continuing support to all young children and their families. It includes information for evaluating programs and deals largely with methods of program implementation in four areas of early childhood: (1) education…

A field study by Greenleigh Associates of the state and local adult basic education (ABE) program in Maryland found in part that: (1) 3% of educationally disadvantaged groups participated in ABE and less than 1% achieved an 8th grade level education through ABE; (2) inconsistencies were noted at the state level between actual operational…

A survey determining how widespread the policy of prisoner furloughs has become and how well the programs which have been implemented are operated was conducted. A questionnaire regarding home furlough policies was distributed to the directors of the departments of corrections of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Federal Bureau of…

It is difficult to base evaluations on concepts irrelevant to state policy making. Evaluation of a multiproject program requires both time and differentiation of method. Data from the California Early Childhood Program illustrate process variables for program component analysis, and research questions for intraprogram comparison. (CP)

This paper draws on the experience of various states in its discussion of questions, issues, and decisions that policymakers face as they plan their states' family support initiatives. The discussion is organized into three parts that correspond roughly with the stages of policy formation, program development, and program implementation and…