Over the past 15 years, we have seen an increase in the use of cluster randomized trials (CRTs) to test the efficacy of educational interventions. These studies are often designed with the goal of determining whether a program works, or answering the what works question. Recently, the goals of these studies expanded to include for whom and under…

The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a policy change to the federally administered National School Lunch Program that allows schools serving low-income populations to classify all students as eligible for free meals, regardless of individual circumstances. This has implications for the use of free and reduced-price meal (FRM) data to proxy…

Much of the currently available evidence on the causal effects of public prekindergarten programs on school readiness outcomes comes from studies that use a regression-discontinuity design (RDD) with the age cutoff to enter a program in a given year as the basis for assignment to treatment and control conditions. Because the RDD has high internal…

Research in fields other than education has found that studies with small sample sizes tend to have larger effect sizes than those with large samples. This article examines the relationship between sample size and effect size in education. It analyzes data from 185 studies of elementary and secondary mathematics programs that met the standards of…

In an effort to maintain internal validity while maximizing the generalizability of evaluation results, the theory-testing methodology that links program activities to outcomes (program theory) is proposed. To evaluate a program by explicating and testing the program theory is to perform evaluation as theory testing. (PN)

External and implementation factors and their potential threats to field test validity and the practical realities of the field testing process on results are discussed. External factors include site selection, negotiations, contracts, site monitoring, training, and type of product. Implementation factors include motivation, dependence on local…

Applied ethnography has strengths in areas that vitally need research and can inform policymakers in areas where rationalism and positivism cannot. However, several threats to the ethnographic approach are posed by a utilitarian culture, e.g., redefinition of the variables studied, a focus on discrete facts and "controlling" knowledge…

Some of the advantages of meta-analysis as a useful approach to synthesizing research studies are described, along with caveats that a careful analyst should consider when applying this approach to research data. (LC)

In the form of a play, a brief discussion is presented of program evaluation problems at the elementary/secondary education level. (PN)

Studied national educational datasets in Japan during the post-World War II era. Found that current datasets do not contain questions about family background or rank of school attended that are detailed enough to permit an analysis of the impact of family background on educational attainment. (SLD)

The assumptions of interpretive (or naturalistic) inquiry are incompatible with the desire for foundation criteria and procedures. Critical analysis of the historical views of Dilthey and Weber and the contemporary writings of Guba are used to support this position. (BS)

The design and conduct of a national evaluation study is discussed, demonstrating that a control group may not provide the no-cause baseline information expected. Resolution of this problem requires reexamination of paradigms, research practices, and policies, as well as the underlying real world constraints and views that generate them. (PN)

LISREL V computer program is applied to a weak quasi-experimental design involving the Head Start program, as a multiple analysis attempt to assure that differences between nonequivalent control groups do not confound interpretation of a posteriori differences. (PN)

Glass and Smith's (EJ 207 324) conclusion supporting small class size may be true, but it is not supported by their evidence. Their analysis does not recognize intervening factors and varying class sizes. (CP)

A study of school district uses of evaluation and test data is used to illustrate the variety of ambiguities that can appear in qualitative data. Rules of evidence to distinguish valid and potentially nonvalid testimony are proposed. Uses of testimony in evaluation are discussed. (BS)