As Kansas schools have begun to work through the Quality Performance Accreditation (QPA) process, educators have asked for guidance and the establishment of some uniform parameters. This publication is one of the guides designed to lead schools through the school improvement process called for in the QPA. Creating a school profile is a way of…

COPE (Client-Oriented, Provider-Efficient) methodology, a self-assessment tool that has been used in 35 countries around the world, was used to improve the quality of care in family planning clinics in Kenya. COPE involves a process that legitimately invests power with providers and clinic-level staff. It gives providers more control over their…

This document presents profiles of the state education agency (SEA) program monitoring systems in the 58 states and jurisdictions receiving funds under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The first section includes an overview of the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) compliance monitoring review system is provided.…

Smart Start is North Carolina's partnership between state government and local leaders, service providers, and families to better serve children under 6 years of age and their families. This report describes the comprehensive plan to evaluate the state and local goals and objectives of the program, focusing on the components addressing the…

This book translates national and state standards into ideas from which teachers can build a workable learning program, clarifying the current language of standards and assessment and helping teachers identify how those standards and assessments can work in their schools or districts. Chapter 1 discusses recent history that has created the current…

This paper discusses a number of interventions that are aimed at increasing educational opportunities of homeless students in the United States. Only a few of these programs have been locally evaluated, and the evaluation process is particularly challenging for local evaluators to undertake. At a state and national level, commitment to evaluation…

This report emphasizes the importance of two types of assessment: (1) authentic assessment, which encompasses a holistic or comprehensive view of student performance, and (2) assessment of institutional effectiveness, or outcomes assessment, which is a process of measuring how effectively a college executes its stated mission. While Hudson County…

There are many procedures to use in the evaluation of student achievement in reading. Each has its pros and cons. No single approach will be perfect, but with a variety of approaches a teacher may determine how much progress each student has made. Standardized, norm-referenced tests, once so popular, have come into disfavor as reading evaluation…

This resource provides tools that are relevant to understanding the nature and scope of substance abuse. The tools are also meant to be helpful in identifying and guiding students who need help and in preventing substance abuse. The aids are grouped into five sections. Section I provides basic fact sheets on substance abuse among youth. Section II…

Nine Canadian health libraries participated in a pilot test of the Benchmarking Tool Kit between January and April, 1998. Although the Tool Kit was designed specifically for health libraries, the content and approach are useful to other types of libraries as well. Used to its full potential, benchmarking can provide a common measuring stick to…

This book is intended for early childhood educators, student teachers, practicing teachers, and parents who are interested in improving observation and assessment processes for children from infancy through the elementary school years. The book covers the history, philosophy, and practice of observing, recording, and analyzing children's behavior.…

This paper presents an Evaluation Scale which is applicable to various types of educational Web sites. It consists of three parts: composition of the site (concerned with general characteristics, presentation and illustration of information, and user's impression); pedagogical aspects; and curriculum-related aspects. Twenty-seven biology teachers…

The instructor of the educational computing course at the University of Houston used action research to address the following questions and improve the course: "How could I formalize the process of action, reflection, and feedback?" and "Do certain types of learners do better with certain types of activities and certain structures…

This study investigated the mathematics achievement test performance of 62 non-transient elementary school learners in accelerated schools using a longitudinal design. Both the California Achievement Test (CAT) and the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program (LEAP) test were included in this investigation. In particular, this study sought to…

In Great Britain, interest in the measurement of value added was stimulated initially by the requirement that schools and further education (FE) colleges publish league tables of examination results. Value-added data can be aggregated to compare different institutions' performance. Within colleges, value-added data provide a basis for setting…