Honours research projects in the School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering at the University of Adelaide are run with small groups of students working with an academic supervisor in a chosen area for one year. The research project is mainly self-directed study, which makes it very difficult to fairly assess the contribution of…

This paper presents three methodological models that can be employed in conducting follow-up studies of preservice and inservice teacher training. The needs assessment model evaluates effectiveness by the discrepancy between "what is" and "what should be." The relative gain model assesses relative pupil improvement. The process-product model of…

Measures of quality are now in widespread use across states as part of quality improvement initiatives. For example, many states are currently using global measures of quality that were first developed for research and practice purposes (such as the Environmental Rating Scales) in their Quality Rating Systems (QRSs). Although global quality…

In 1991-1992, the Montana state legislature's Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) Review Committee evaluated implementation of JTPA in Montana. The committee gathered background information on JTPA and state laws and programs implementing the federal programs and heard testimony on the plans and state job training programs. After 3 meetings, the…

This report explores educational accountability in the United States, specifically accountability in vocational education. Section 1 provides a brief overview of the history of evaluation activity in federal educational programs and sets the major accountability, evaluation, and performance provisions of the 1990 Perkins legislation in that…

The evaluation process provides valuable information so that practitioners may share and benchmark their efforts to improve and enhance the quality of the educational reform initiative called tech prep. Evaluation should be part of every phase of a tech prep initiative, from needs assessment to completion. A tech prep program is typically at one…

In 2009 the Obama administration announced a focused commitment to turn around 5,000 of the United States' chronically lowest-performing public schools as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). This commitment came with $3 billion in funding for the School Improvement Grant program, or SIG, along with new guidelines to ensure…

This document, one of 12 guides that have been developed to facilitate evaluation by and for local education agency (LEA) personnel in Illinois, covers the evaluation of instructional materials, both print and audiovisual. The activity is presented in three parts. The first part is an inventory of instructional materials that are currently owned…

Networks aiming for fundamental changes bring together a variety of actors who are part and parcel of a problematic context. These system innovation projects need to be accompanied by a monitoring and evaluation approach that supports and maintains reflexivity to be able to deal with uncertainties and conflicts while challenging current practices…

This document, one of 12 guides that have been developed to facilitate evaluation by and for local education agency (LEA) personnel in Illinois, covers the analysis of community resources, an activity that has as its primary objective the evaluation of the LEA's use of those resources available in the community, such as businesses, labor unions,…

This document, one of 12 guides that have been developed to facilitate evaluation by and for local education agency (LEA) personnel in Illinois, covers measuring sutdent achievement. This activity is designed to help local instructors and administrators first to expand the scope of their current efforts to assess student attainment of objectives…

This document, one of 12 guides that have been developed to facilitate evaluation by and for local education agency (LEA) personnel in Illinois, suggests a two-part analysis for assessing the LEA's identification process and service provision to special needs (handicapped, disadvantaged, and limited-English proficient) students. The first part of…

This report, outlining the City College of San Francisco's (CCSF) Strategic Plan, begins with an overview of the institution's goals and strategies and provides background information on the plan's development. Part I, "Setting a Direction," offers information on CCSF's values and long-term institutional goals: (1) enhancing access; (2)…

This document, one of 12 guides that have been developed to facilitate evaluation by and for local education agency (LEA) personnel in Illinois, covers assessing basic skills through a set of activities for making professional decisions regarding remediation, individualized learning, and program and course improvements and for making status…

This document, one of 12 guides that have been developed to facilitate evaluation by and for local education agency (LEA) personnel in Illinois, covers cost and outcome analysis, a method of relating both monetary and nonmonetary returns to investments for the purpose of improving program planning and decision making. Throughout this activity, the…