This document is the third of four prepared for Phase 1 of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) Civics Education Study. The more than 20 countries that participated were asked to gather data to answer four Core International Framing Questions (CIFQs). Volume 2 explains the process from which the CIFQs…

This issue of "The Evaluation Exchange" focuses on out-of-school time (OST). Several authors provide insights into how they, and others, are tackling measurement issues, from using technology and data systems to collect information and track progress, to applying lessons learned from developing early childhood quality measures. Other authors…

This article looks at the lessons that a novice qualitative researcher learned from interviewing an adolescent on AIDS education. The data informs us of what can be missed when adolescents are surveyed and not talked "to." As Toni informs us, "They should teach you this." The article points out how reciprocity, responsibility,…

The mission of the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools is to improve, through cutting-edge interdisciplinary research, our understanding of optimal ways that parents, teachers and other service providers in family, school and community contexts can promote the intellectual, socio-emotional, physical and behavioral…

Discusses the number of observations necessary to obtain a trustworthy sample of classroom transactions by reanalyzing existing data. Eleven to twenty observations appear necessary for teachers' questions which require students to hypothesize. The reliability of a single observation was zero for four other questioning types. (CC)

This study examined the participation of vocational instructors in the individualized education program (IEP) process and the inservice needs of these personnel in relation to the IEP effort. The authors report on the design and findings, and reflect on various methods employed in this investigation. (Author/CT)

Compared two approaches to assessing the development of persuasive skills in children: asking them to generate messages versus having them select from preformulated messages or strategies. Also investigated the approach of asking children to indicate their rationale for choosing a particular message. Found more success with message generation than…

Knowledge of issues that include due process, discrimination, validity, reliability, and inference will assist school administrators in reworking evaluation systems to meet legal and ethical requirements. In so doing, systems become more research based, accurate, and of value in improving teacher effectiveness and providing defensible evidence for…

Compared the efficiency of eye-movements of dyslexic children (N=15) while tracking sequential lights. Contrary to Pavlidis (1981) no significant differences were found. In a reply, Pavlidis pointed out methodological differences between the studies. Further comments by the first authors discussed procedures, subject selection, and data analysis.…

This paper addresses methodological issues in studying the costs of publicly supported recreational facilities. Techniques for measuring costs of land, capital improvements, operations, and maintenance are outlined. Techniques used to estimate and recover costs may vary with the objectives of analysis and the institutional setting of the agency…

In a course entitled "Field Methods for the Study of Education," three themes dominate: professionalism, Darwinian methodology, and application. Unifying these are the notions that the proper use of theory is critical to good ethnography and the natural history/Darwinian paradigm is the central core of the anthropological, ethnological…

Documents the design, development, and evaluation of a computer-managed spelling system for use with microcomputers in elementary schools. A comparison of this new technology with more conventional instruction, which indicated its greater effectiveness and economy, is also described, and implications for the future of computers in education are…

Investigation of relationship between microform instruction program and user attitudes toward microforms including comparison between instructed and noninstructed users, convenience of access, ability to identify and locate microforms, and personal variables (age, sex, use of glasses) indicates that microform instruction can be considered…

Interviews were conducted with the heads of 11 business branches of major public libraries to examine how these experts view the future of the public library in the electronically dominated information environment of the future. Eleven references and a list of librarians interviewed are appended. (Author/EJS)

Issues in the measurement and interpretation of student perceptions of medical schools' learning environments in earlier British research are discussed and compared with a more recent Australian study. Two of the problems are methodology in large-scale studies and institutional reform based solely on survey results. (MSE)