Blending high-quality and rigorous research with pure evaluation practice can often be best accomplished through thoughtful collaboration. The evaluation of a high school drug prevention program (All Stars Senior) is an example of how perceived competing purposes and methodologies can coexist to investigate formative and summative outcome…

The quantitative methodologies have been traditionally employed in the educational research so far. However, as long as with the appreciation and widespread use of the qualitative methodologies in many disciplines, many different educational areas have started to be examined in terms of qualitative research aspects. Particularly, the qualitative…

This evaluation assesses the Alternative Route to Licensure (ARL) program of the Clark County School District (CCSD), in Clark County, Nevada from the program participants' perspectives. The program was implemented to reduce teacher shortages in the school district and allow persons with non-education-related Bachelor's Degrees to obtain teaching…

Race to the Top (RTT) is a first-of-its kind $4.35 billion competitive grant program designed to spur state-level education innovation to boost student achievement, close achievement gaps, and prepare students for college and careers. Originally authorized in 2009 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, RTT encourages states to develop…

Rigorous evidence from around the world has shown that significant improvements in learning can be obtained at comparatively low cost by spending more, focused time ensuring that the bottom half of the class in the early grades does not get left behind. The authors present results from the Teacher Community Assistant Initiative (TCAI) that tests…

The Assessment Skills and Knowledge (ASK) standards seek to articulate the areas of content knowledge, skill and dispositions that student affairs professionals need in order to perform as practitioner-scholars to assess the degree to which students are mastering the learning and development outcomes the professionals intend. Consistent with…

A statewide survey of the infrastructure of teacher education program assessment systems in North Carolina, which include electronic portfolios as a component in the assessment system, measured their ability to meet current and anticipated future data demands for state approval and national accreditation. Almost two-thirds of the 46 teacher…

Each year, Austin Independent School District Department of Research and Evaluation (DRE) staff develop a plan of work to describe the scope of work for the coming year. The plans that make up this document identify programs to be evaluated and services to be provided by DRE staff and provide the blueprints for evaluation that staff will follow…

Acting as the lead agency for the "National STEM Consortium" (NSC), Anne Arundel Community College (AACC) engaged Hezel Associates to provide an independent program and impact evaluation of the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL)-funded STEM certificate initiative. This report is comprehensive and covers the findings from all 4 years of the…

In the fall of 2008, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) commissioned a research study comparing the college access provider resources in Virginia to the access and academic achievement needs of the state. That study--conducted by researchers from the College of William and Mary and West Carolina University--resulted in the…

This appendix presents the data collection instruments used for the "National Evaluation of Title III Implementation: Report on State and Local Implementation" study. The purpose of this study is not to monitor Title III implementation, but to describe the implementation of Title III in states and school districts across the country. The…

This study sought to determine if differences exist in the quantitative and qualitative data collected with paper and online versions of a medical school clerkship evaluation form. Data from six-and-a-half years of clerkship evaluations were used, some collected before and some after the conversion from a paper to an online evaluation system. The…

In 1999, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded funds to the Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University to conduct an external evaluation of the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program. ATE, a federally mandated program designed to increase the number and quality of skilled technicians in the U.S. workforce, has funded over 346…

Many school district strategic plans and education conferences are aggressively embracing technology to improve teaching and learning. Classroom technology typically includes blended learning, personalized learning, online courses for students, and professional development for teachers, among many other things. As districts wrestle with tighter…

Publicly available statistics from government agencies that are credible, relevant, accurate, and timely are essential for policy makers, individuals, households, businesses, academic institutions, and other organizations to make informed decisions. Even more, the effective operation of a democratic system of government depends on the unhindered…