The Perkins Act greatly expands the tasks of state councils on vocational education. Their duties encompass three policy objectives: achieving public involvement in vocational education, providing independent assessment of vocational programs, and improving vocational education policies and the policymaking process. (SK)

The Perkins Act charges the National Council on Vocational Education with advising the president, Congress, and the secretary of education on the implementation of the Perkins and the Job Training Partnership Acts, strategies for business cooperation with vocational education, effective ways of providing labor market information, special needs…

In 1998, the State of Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services assumed responsibility for the Milwaukee County child welfare system. The Wisconsin Council on Children and Families has undertaken a multi-year, qualitative research project to monitor the state takeover. The three questions that this project seeks to answer are: (1) What…

Gordon McCaffrey, a political scientist and assistant director of the legislation department, Canadian Labour Congress, says technical and vocational educations is as good as far as it goes. He pinpoints what he believes are the shortcomings of education as a whole, examines these in relation to psychological, social and economic factors, and…

Discusses procedures for evaluating a local vocational agriculture program by the state teacher education and state supervisory staffs. (DM)

Developing instructional programing priorities and planning program improvements require an understanding of how effectively program objectives are being met. A formalized process for evaluating programs has been developed at Vancouver Community College as an aid in these and other aspects of instructional planning. (SSH)

The Florida Division of Vocational Education has developed a system to help educators correct problems identified during program review. The local program improvement plan as a follow-up to vocational program review is a management strategy supported by legislative intent and direction. (JOW)

The seven chapters of this volume demonstrate that evaluation evidence can overturn widely held beliefs and result in changes in programs and policies. These chapters show that policymakers can welcome findings that challenge long-established ideas and use them to Improve programs and services. (SLD)

The State of Wisconsin's YoungStar system was created by the Legislature and Governor in 2010 to "drive quality improvement in child care throughout the state." YoungStar uses a five-star system to rate child care providers based on several measures of quality, including staff education levels, learning environment, business methods, and…

Performance benchmarks are proposed to assist undergraduate psychology programs in defining their missions and goals as well as documenting their effectiveness. Experienced academic program reviewers compared their experiences to formulate a developmental framework of attributes of undergraduate programs focusing on activity in 8 domains:…

Three specific points are made about helping program managers improve their use of information: (1) program managers appear to be the easiest group for evaluators to work with to improve use; (2) realistically, these managers may be the most difficult group to help; and (3) several strategies exist that evaluators use to help program people…

This manual is designed to benefit those interested in the improvement of small programs, focusing on techniques used to check on a program's goal achievement. A small program is defined, for the purpose of this manual, as one that affects a limited number of students (less than 100) and is taught by a limited staff (5 or less) with limited or no…

Outside evaluators of a writing program can assess the program's effectiveness, can support the work in a program that has become visible and subject to criticism, are easier to listen to than local faculty members, and can help clarify and resolve conflicting notions members of the department may have about the program's reason for being. First,…

TO DETERMINE THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF JUNIOR COLLEGE INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH, 336 RESPONSES TO A QUESTIONNAIRE WERE ANALYZED, AND SIX INSTITUTIONS WITH RESEARCH PROGRAMS WERE STUDIED IN DEPTH. IN GENERAL, THE COLLEGES WERE CHARACTERIZED BY LACK OF FORMAL INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS, SPECIFIC POLICY OR BUDGET PROVISIONS FOR RESEARCH, ADEQUATE…

TO DETERMINE THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF JUNIOR COLLEGE INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH, 336 RESPONSES TO A QUESTIONNAIRE WERE ANALYZED, AND SIX INSTITUTIONS WITH RESEARCH PROGRAMS WERE STUDIED IN DEPTH. IN GENERAL, THE COLLEGES WERE CHARACTERIZED BY LACK OF (1) FORMAL INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS, (2) SPECIFIC POLICY OR BUDGET PROVISIONS FOR RESEARCH, (3)…