The Performance Review, Analysis, and Improvement System for Educators (PRAISE) is a formative evaluation instrument designed to improve the performance of school principals. The system appears to be reliable and valid and is flexible enough to accommodate the needs of a variety of schools. Sample items and categories of the instrument include…

This manual presents strategies that are intended for use by support staff to retain nontraditional male and female students in secondary vocational education programs. They may also be applicable to postsecondary and adult vocational students. Strategies are divided into five major categories: policy, inservice (workshops and training activities…

Sixteen Family Practice faculty members completed ratings on 59 senior medical students after a 6-week primary care clerkship. Each student was rated by seven to ten faculty members and the chief residents who worked with them, resulting in a total of 353 ratings. The rating scale covered: (1) attainment of learning objectives; (2) progress during…

The Cooperative Assessment of Experiential Learning project (CAEL) has developed general principles for assessment of prior experiential learning which can be adapted for local circumstances and individual learning. An overview of the basic principles of good assessment practice, as represented in current CAEL publications, is provided. Procedural…

The Piedmont Schools Project (PSP) was one of the Experimental Schools Projects awarded grants by the National Institute of Education (NIE). The PSP is located in the Piedmont region near Greer, South Carolina and serves approximately 5,000 K-12 students from eight schools. The students in this region have historically performed at one or more…

This guide was designed for trainers presenting inservice workshops for program evaluators, teachers, principals, curriculum specialists, and others responsible for school programs. It is keyed to a companion volume, the Program Evaluator's Guide (ED l42 563), the primary source for workshop participants. Developed under the California Evaluation…

Guidelines for self evaluation by middle schools and junior high schools and by visiting committees are outlined in this publication. The guide is divided into 12 sections. The first is the manual, which provides recommendations for implementation and follow-up of the evaluation procedure. The remaining parts consist of guiding principles, forms,…

Evaluation of prior learning for college credit towards a general studies degree is discussed in this handbook for faculty evaluators. It is suggested that the major responsibility of the evaluator is to determine if prior learning is college level and how many credits should be awarded. Credit toward the general studies degree is awarded only for…

In recent years the Lincoln, Nebraska public school system has increased the amount of material available for the evaluation of its educational programs and has organized it for use in decision making situations. This position paper summarizes the current situation, and clarifies policies and procedures for educational program evaluation. Two…

This study of the federal government's evaluation of social programs indicates that it is virtually impossible to establish a bias-free, valid, and reliable system of inquiry to determine the effects of social programs. Divided into five chapters, the document examines the aspirations and limitations of evaluations, methodology, evaluation in the…

In this report we explore the role of reviewer agreement in judgments about alignment between tests and standards. Specifically, we consider approaches to describing alignment that incorporate reviewer agreement information in different ways. The essential questions were whether and how taking into account reviewer agreement changes the picture of…

Examines fundamental conceptions regarding the role and nature of evaluating and researching music education programs. Questions the common idea that evaluative criteria for programs should focus primarily on the students' level of musical skill. Argues that consideration should be given to personal growth and other issues. (MJP)

Ten states participated in a cross-state scoring workshop in 1991, evaluating writing from elementary school, middle school, and high school students. Correlation of scores assigned by readers from one state with those from readers from another state were generally quite high. Implications for defining common standards are discussed. (SLD)

Determining what will occur with a consulting practice becomes a more pressing concern as an evaluator approaches the age of retirement. Typically independent consultants do not have the pension planning services readily available to evaluators in academic settings, governmental agencies, or large corporations. Without prompts such as automatic…

This study, part of a larger longitudinal research project, focused on the relationship between teachers' rankings of their students' literacy achievements, based on informal assessment, and the scores that the students received on a standardized test. Kindergarten students (initial sample of 136) were followed for 3 years. At the end of…