A newly organized small college model for a decentralized institutional research office was described and evaluated. Using Hearn and Corcoran's six external or organizational forces (external environment, personalities or individual interests, management styles, power arrangements, microcomputing and telecommunications, and structural and…

Major obstacles to conducting process research with parent education programs exist; new directions for studying how programs interact with participants are needed. In particular, intervention research is time consuming and expensive. The small number of subjects involved are often at risk and under considerable social stress. Self-selection and…

Data on the intrinsic characteristics of an educational program are essential in pilot testing new programs in order to determine how successfully design components have achieved their intended purpose. At the outset of an evaluation of such data, it is necessary to define the evaluator's role and determine what intrinsic information will be…

Discusses formative evaluation (those evaluation activities carried out while a curriculum is still being developed) and relates this to the development of the Individualized Science (IS) program at the University of Pittsburgh. (PEB)

The author proposes a model for evaluation of learning in clinical nursing courses which incorporates three classes of objectives: instructional (the "defined behavior" type), expressive (elaboration and indivivualization of learned skills and meanings), and Type 3 (problem-solving). Three types of outcome are distinguished: instructor-, student-,…

Workshops, conferences, clinics, seminars, and training sessions are examples of "temporary systems," in which participants suspend their usual roles and responsibilities and concentrate on a few short-term objectives. One mechanism of a temporary system is the use of feedback to determine the extent to which the project objectives are being…

This report describes the Palenque Project, a highly interactive, multimedia, optical disc research prototype which was developed for home use and tested by observing 25 children in the 9 to 14 year age range and their families and 8 12-year-olds in pairs. It is noted that the project was intended to create a rich, multimedia database environment…

Five problems concerning faculty evaluation are identified, along with seven proposed solutions. The problems are as follows: (1) summative and formative evaluation objectives are mixed; (2) most instructional evaluation is designed with institutional convenience in mind; (3) evaluation results are given impersonally; (4) most evaluation…

This report describes a collaborative project between the Agency for Instructional Technology (AIT), the Center for Occupational Research and Development (CORD), and a consortium of 42 states and provincial education agencies in developing an applied science course, Principles of Technology, for high school vocational students. The project…

With the federal role in education changing rapidly, regional education agencies are best suited to engage in school improvement efforts by designing cooperative arrangements among other educational organizations. Although planning such a collaborative interorganizational relationship (IOR) seems to require both appropriate structures among member…

Apprehension about evaluating the use of computers in schools can be attributed to a variety of reasons, including the claim that evaluation discourages innovation and discovery. Powerful reasons, however, make evaluation at both regional and national levels desirable. By conceiving of evaluation as a formative, on-going process rather than as a…

A plan for evaluating teacher training workshops and institutes is presented. Juxtaposition of the target group and the type of evaluation provides the framework for evaluating such a program. Evaluation is formative, aimed at modifying and improving the plan as it is being developed, and summative, assessed at the end of the experience. The use…

This volume is the fourth in a series of five texts designed to accompany workshop instruction in evaluating bilingual programs. It is addressed to those involved with bilingual programs generally, educators directly involved in planning and implementation, and research and evaluation specialists. The purpose of this text is to provide the…

To explain the development of the performance studies department at New York University (NYU), this paper describes the early years of the department as it began in the graduate drama department, noting how an association of concerned people, including Robert Corrigan, Richard Schechner, Monroe Lippman, Michael Kirby, and Brooks McNamara, and…