Objectives of Title I evaluations are to document: (1) use by local staff and parents; (2) other types of information used by local staff and parents in judging and in improving their program; and (3) implications of these findings for the current Federal Title I evaluation strategy. (Author/RL)

Reveals the potential usefulness of the "medical model" for social work practitioners. Outlines methods of the medical approach that can be used to improve social services and to avoid wasteful or harmful practice. Suggests social workers having negative attitudes about the medical model should reconsider their attitudes. (Author

The comprehensive model for evaluating nursing education programs is described in terms of what is evaluated; who conducts the evaluation; and why it is conducted. A structure for further action and decision making is also presented. (GDC)

Organizations systematically gather more information than they use, yet continue to ask for more. This may be partially explained by the fact that the use of information is embedded in social norms that make it highly symbolic. Implications of such a pattern of information use are discussed. (Author/WD)

Summarizes the results of a survey of reader attitudes concerning the usefulness of publications provided by the Association for Education in Journalism (AEJ). (RL)

Medical information should be integrated into the planning of special education programs. Educators need to be aware of the value of medical information, establish communication with family physicians, and arrange for storage and retrieval of such information. (CJ)

Over 53 percent of 159 NASA-Small Business Administration clients and industrial clients, surveyed for dollar costs and benefits of online computerized literature searches, identified dollar benefits. A direct ratio between benefits derived and client dollars invested, averaging 2.9 to 1, was demonstrated. Data tables are presented. (Author/JD)

Case studies of educational program evaluations demonstrate that utilization of evaluative information occurs; however, its forms and the forces influencing utilization are complex. Naturalistic methods were used to study utilization. (See RIE: ED 174 666). (Available from: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 433 California St., San Francisco, CA 94104, single…

The process of reporting evaluation results is described in terms of communications theory. Results of several simulated studies of factors which influence the credibility of evaluators and reports are summarized, and implications are discussed. (Available from: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 433 California St., San Francisco, CA 94104, single issue, $6.95.)…

A study of rural Indian villages was undertaken to determine the availability of agricultural publications and the extent of use by farmers. Low utilization was related to illiteracy, inaccessibility of villages, and lack of government and university extension activity. Recommendations included increasing the publication and distribution of farm…

The results of an experiment on the usefulness of closed circuit television (CCTV) for 106 partially sighted visitors to a library in Copenhagen, Denmark, is presented. A large percentage of participants who had been unable to read before the experiment found that they could read with CCTV. (Author)

Federal money supports many agencies intended to provide information to educators, but because the services are not coordinated, few people use them. A brief summary is provided of some of the educational information resources, along with the titles of some handbooks. (Author/MLF)

A four-year experimental study in Ireland to study the effects of testing yielded similar results to studies by the "Pittsburgh group." They found that test results are not very important to either central office administrators or teachers in making decisions about students. (Author/WD)

Attempts are made to account for the failure of generalized planning models for higher education. The reasons offered by survey research are judged to be inadequate. New foundations are laid for the construction and use of planning models, relying heavily on the notion of diverse institutional theories that guide decision making. (Author/JMD)

Discussion of disinformation in the mass media focuses on present and future possibilities of disinformation on the Internet. Highlights include six forms of disinformation; the mishandling of information; voluntary disinformation; the gap between information providers and users; and strategies for avoiding disinformation, including quality…