In the late 1990s, the Korea Ministry of Education and Human Resources, in response to concern over the relatively low standing of the nation's universities and researchers, launched the Brain Korea 21 program BK21). BK21 seeks to make Korean research universities globally competitive and to produce more high-quality researchers in Korea. It…

The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory presents a primer for making educational decisions more systematic, containing a collection of (1) prescriptive guides for clarifying problems and objectives, (2) suggestions for identifying possible solutions, (3) criteria for judging solutions, (4) methods for measuring values, and (5) strategies for…

Because of declining school budgets and the general economic recession, educational evaluators have become increasingly interested in cost-analysis methods. Although there is a large body of literature on economic and cost-analysis procedures, there are no current bibliographies targeted at the use of cost methods in program evaluation. This…

Although school administrators hold a key position in educational improvement, strategies designed to help in the development of their knowledge and skills have not been fully examined. A review of research on administrator inservice offers a research agenda that may be followed to expand the knowledge base on this issue. (DF)

Costs have long been an important consideration in educational programming. Only recently, however, have systematic cost analysis methodologies been applied in educational evaluation. This report identifies and documents the application of cost methodologies within evaluation and service projects conducted by Northwest Regional Educational…

One of the missions of the Research on Evaluation Program for 1983, is to increase the capacity of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) to provide regional services in the areas of evaluation, policy analysis, and especially cost analysis. To provide this service, the program needed specific information on regional service needs…

Evaluation of industrial research and development (R&D) must be simple and low cost, and it must contribute to corporate goals without distracting researchers from their research. These points are illustrated with reference to General Electric's Research and Development Center, which is the company's corporate laboratory. (SLD)

On May 18, 1983 a conference was held at the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) to discuss the status of work on cost analysis studies in education at the state and local level. NWREL, local and state education agencies in Oregon and Washington, and two Portland area universities were represented at the conference. Jana Kay Smith…

Two landmark efforts to describe the condition of American Indian and Alaska Native education nationwide and to call for specific solutions took place in the early 1990s. These efforts were the Indian Nations At Risk Task Force and the White House Conference on Indian Education. This digest summarizes Task Force and Conference recommendations…

This report provides an illustrative discussion of the nature of a cost-effectiveness study in a higher education setting. It focuses on the cost-effectiveness of two field-based teacher preparation courses taught in a college of education. It is not a comprehensive cost analysis study, but an exploratory review of the dimensions and problems of…

This paper describes and illustrates a decision theory model to analyze student selection strategies in Chapter 1 programs. The relationship between the method and the practice of moral evaluation activity is based on viewing justice as a fundamental moral concern in distributing resources, one which is accomplished, in part, through student…

Decision-oriented inquiries emanate from a specific need for information and are conducted under a number of constraints. Conclusion-oriented research originates with the researcher and can be pursued in ways decided on by the researcher. Two examples of decision-oriented evaluation studies conducted by school districts and the relationships…

This book contains four papers commissioned by the National Center on Employment Policy to review programs conducted by the Office of Policy, Evaluation, and Research in the Labor Department's Employment and Training Administration. The Council's policy statement entitled "Appraising Employment and Training Research" appears first. In…

Vocational education research and development (R&D) product evaluations are difficult to conduct for several reasons, such as the many types of R&D products, the multiple users of the products with different goals for evaluation, the limited time available, and the high cost. In order to meet these challenges, an internal evaluation team…

Addresses research-based issues related to preparing teachers and other professionals to work with children and youth with emotional and behavioral disorders. Discussion includes an identification of basic personnel preparation questions to be addressed, components of an effective training program, steps for establishing program effectiveness, and…