"Engineering Criteria 2000" (EC 2000), the recently revised set of accreditation criteria for engineering programs in the USA, places considerable stress on outcomes assessments. EC 2000 requires the assessment results to be used to identify program improvements and for such usage and the resulting improvements to be documented. While…

Throughout the United States, schools and entire school districts are implementing school-wide positive behavioral supports. This systemic, team-based approach often employs assessment tools such as The Effective Behavioral Support Survey (Sugai, Todd, & Horner, 2000) as part of its implementation to improve school-wide discipline. The EBS…

The Internet and World Wide Web are increasingly used to accelerate progress in a variety of fields. These applications go beyond the traditional technology- or computer-related fields and have expanded to nontechnical fields, which have benefited greatly from the use of the Web as a data-gathering and management support tool. The purpose of this…

Evaluation inarguably takes place within social, cultural, historical, economic, and political contexts--the contexts defined by human existence and experience. These contexts envelope many dimensions. Race, ethnicity, language, gender, age, religion, and sexual orientation are among the commonly listed demographic attributes of contextual…

This article uses a program-level evaluation to assess the characteristics of smaller-scale project evaluations and their use for project improvement and accountability purposes. The authors used available information from the annual Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program evaluation surveys to describe the characteristics of evaluation…

Investigating University-School Partnerships: A Volume in Professional Development School Research, the fourth book in the PDS Research Series developed by the same editors, includes a collection of organized papers that represent the best and latest examples of practitioner thinking, research, and program design and evaluation in the field at the…

This What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) topic report addresses reading interventions for students in grades K-3, including core reading curricula, programs, or products to be used as supplements to other reading instruction, programs that focus on staff development, and literacy software. The WWC review on beginning reading focuses on programs…

Addressing the problems of bullying in schools, this paper presents a novel and highly innovative pedagogical approach, building on the immersive power of virtual role-play. Educational role-play is widely accepted as a powerful instrument to change attitudes and behaviour, but faces some difficulties and disadvantages when applied to sensitive…

The iPod digital music player has been available since late 2001, and even in higher education, its presence has been seen, although mostly in the hands of students and rarely for outcomes-based educational purposes. In 2004, Duke University provided free iPods to all 1,650 first year students, which subsequently enabled faculty to create learning…

The move towards applying outcome-based education in teaching and learning at tertiary education level has become an important topic in Malaysia. Apart from the three learning domains; namely, cognitive, psychomotor and affective, the Ministry of Higher Education has determined eight learning outcomes which are important in providing wholesome…

The authors present the argument that evaluation as currently practiced is failing the needs of the social sector, if the goal is to help organizations achieve their mission. Three case studies are presented in which evaluation played a key role in the development of a learning culture within the organization. Each case highlights the positive…

An evaluation was conducted of a comprehensive plan to restructure a primary school in Candler County, Georgia, into a non-graded, multi-age, continuous progress learning center. The project entailed restructuring the classroom, implementing a shared decision-making structure, developing a learning curriculum, and using portfolio assessment to…

The English language training (ELT) program self-review document provides a framework for systematic and consistent self-evaluation of local ELT programs, using specific quality indicators. The document is divided into eight sections, each defining a major component or area of responsibility for effective ELT operation: program planning;…

The project described here evaluated the extent to which the Alexandria (Virginia) Head Start program addresses the needs of preschool English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) and provided teachers with training to enhance their students' language development. While over 40 percent of the children spoke a language other than English as their first…

The effects of various megatrends in social and economic life on vocational education in Germany and other countries are discussed, and the evaluation of one approach to facing these megatrends is described. Trends include demographic changes and the conditions resulting from new technologies and environmental concerns. Such megatrends are…