This case study shows how testing in Mississippi is used as an effective part of a statewide accountability and instructional improvement program. By using criterion-referenced testing as one aspect of a program evaluation requirement, Mississippi is basing instructional improvement on student performance. (Author)

Describes a project to develop and implement a system of followup for Alabama's secondary agribusiness education terminees (graduates and dropouts). Describes the objectives of this project, the instrument, and the sample, return, and results of the first Occupational Patterns and Program Assessment Survey (of 1973-74 terminees). (HD)

Massachusetts' Employment and Training (ET) Choices Program--a work-incentive demonstration--assumes that recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) would choose work over welfare if given genuine opportunities for economic improvement. Models for estimating caseload without the ET Program indicate that the program had only…

Analyzes state performance incentive programs in California, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. Findings suggest that incentive programs vary in effectiveness, indicating that program design is critical to success, and that most of the programs do not have high monetary costs. (FMW)

Interpretation, assimilation, and adjustment to the Utah Career Ladder Program and the extent to which these responses reflect fundamental changes in the structure of teacher work were assessed. Promotional positions and differentiated salaries--distinctive features of a career ladder--were being compromised at all levels of the system. (SLD)

A student-centered evaluation of the California Drug, Alcohol, and Tobacco Education (DATE) program shows how a state policy directed toward students at risk influences program directions and affects at-risk and thriving students. Reasons to question the validity of the risk factor model as a prevention tool are discussed. (SLD)

Describes the process used to evaluate the writing across the curriculum (WAC) program in the Minnesota Community College System, focusing on evaluation components (i.e., workshop surveys, faculty and student surveys, faculty interviews, student compositions, and subject experiments). Considers programmatic and evaluation coordination. Reviews…

Evaluation of strategic planning programs is illustrated using the examples of statewide forest resource planning programs implemented by state governments in 1986. Client-based perspectives were studied via a survey of 216 officials affected by the forestry planning program. Considering planning's context, process, outputs, and performance helped…

Since 1988, the Association of California Community College Administrators (ACCCA) has sponsored a statewide mentor program intended to prepare junior-level administrators for senior positions and to create a more diverse pool from which future college leaders can be drawn. This article is an initial report of this program. As the report…

This report summarizes the activities and findings of the external evaluation of the "Science: It's Elementary" (SIE) program during the period from July 2008 through June 2009. The SIE program is managed by ASSET Inc. and overseen by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. SIE is an initiative aimed at improving elementary science…

Pay for performance is a popular public education reform, and millions of dollars are currently being targeted for pay for performance programs. These reforms are popular because economic and management theories suggest that well-designed incentive pay programs could improve teacher effectiveness. There is little evidence about the characteristics…

In U.S. K-12 public education, incentive pay for educators remains firmly fixed as a high-interest policy topic and has recently become a popular reform initiative in many school systems. The Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF), created in 2006 by the U.S. Department of Education, is at the forefront of this policy movement and has provided hundreds of…

This National Council on Disability (NCD) report defines or describes financial incentives affecting people with disabilities and presents research findings in key areas of people's lives, such as education and health care. It also describes selected state-level innovations affecting asset development and wealth accumulation. In addition, the…

This publication reports on the 1994-95 activities of the South Carolina Center for Teacher Recruitment including the status of programs, mission, goals and budget for the next year. The Center was established in 1985 and has become a national model for teacher recruitment. Its most widely known programs are: Minority Recruitment, Crossroads…