The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions held by teachers, principals (and other evaluators), and superintendents regarding current practices in teacher performance evaluation. A second purpose was to collect demographic data relating to current teacher evaluation practices. Two survey instruments were used to collect data. One…

Two of the most important functions that take place in school districts are staff development and staff evaluation. The relationship between these two functions, however, is more than two separate entities with some common administrative activities. Although it is conceivable that one of these functions is driven or motivated by the other, a…

Educational research and evaluation have had less impact on policy and decision making in education than hoped for, since research and evaluation represent fundamentally different kinds of endeavor than policy and decision making do. Evaluation has more impact than research because it is a more administrative activity and is more integral to…

Linking Outcomes to Organizational Planning (LOOP) was initiated during the 1984-85 school year in the Austin (Texas) Independent School District. LOOP was designed to ensure that evaluation, research, and informal findings became part of the instructional planning loop; to provide information to the Superintendent on progress toward priorities…

The use of evaluation information in a large state agency was investigated through a case study approach. Utilization was measured through a scaling procedure considering the status of recommendations within a report and the extent of influence of the evaluation of the status. The scaling procedure, the equal-appearing interval method, used…

The evaluation of a school improvement program for elementary schools (School Effectiveness Training) and for secondary schools (Secondary School Development Program) provided an opportunity to determine if user participation could increase knowledge use. It was hypothesized that program staff participation might be a solution to the dilemma of…

The focus of this study was on the visual analysis of time series data for evaluating educational programs. Two characteristics of the data--changes in slope and variability--and two characteristics of evaluation--training in data utilization and the use of aimlines/decision rules--were manipulated. A total of 51 students and/or teachers in…

Recent commission and task force reports calling for significant improvements in American education are considered in this set of three papers, and methods for implementing the recommendations are suggested. In his paper, Glen Harvey reviews the reports, noting the extent to which they fail to consider change implementation research and commenting…

In 1988, the Department of Educational Leadership at Western Kentucky University (WKU) established the Western Kentucky Assessment Center, sponsored by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). This document provides an overview of the history and methods of NASSP assessment centers, followed by a discussion of costs to…

A study attempted to determine (1) whether nontraining managers' future financial support for the training function varied based on the amount and kind of information contained in written evaluation reports and (2) the deeper logic and behavior that nontraining managers used in making their decision. The research used a quasi-experimental design…

A procedure is presented for communicating evaluation results to various publics in an effort to achieve wider use of the results. A combination of strategies from the evaluation specialist and public relations specialists first requires an analysis of the perceptions of people with whom the evaluators wish to communicate. This analysis must…

This project developed and validated a method for collecting and reporting information about students' preparation in English for college level work. Over 300 high school seniors completed the "Experiences in English" inventory and a questionnaire on their academic background, interests, and their reactions to the inventory. Additional…

The effects of specific vs. nonspecific referral information and test data on school psychologists' decisions were investigated. Eighty-two psychologists reviewed a hypothetical case study and made psychoeducational decisions. Knowledge of a teacher's reasons for referral did not influence expectations or placement decisions, but test data on…

A study of 45 classroom teachers revealed that the teachers used students' individual psychological test performance in identifying the learning-disabled and the non-learning-disabled child. The achievement level of the school did not influence the teachers' decisions to identify a child as handicapped. (Author/CB)

Evaluation must take into account both executive and legislative politics and their interactions. A five-part continuum evaluation process is suggested for the development of a policy question and its translation into knowledge that is credible, timely, responsive, and usable. Evaluators have a major responsibility in this process. (Author/JAZ)