Describes the use of live, interactive television for distance education at the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Hawaii. Problems resulting from new administrative and psychological demands on students and faculty are discussed, and mechanisms for increasing activity and improving student access to materials and…

Considers a collaboration model (Eastman-Rochester Partnership) between an urban school district music program and a nationally recognized collegiate-level school of music. Explains that the purpose of this coalition is to build a new model of urban music education while restoring a once outstanding inner-city music program. (CMK)

Examines the role of marketing, promotional activities, and public relations in library instructional services and discusses some reactions to using these techniques to improve instruction programs. Considers information technology, the explosion of available information, and changes in users, and emphasizes the need to respond to user needs.…

Describes the standards and guidelines developed for learning assistance programs by the Committee for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS), and those for program components by the National Association of Developmental Education (NADE). Suggests how they can be used to identify needs and improve existing services. (VWC)

Continuous quality improvement efforts are vital to high-quality early intervention services. This article describes an ongoing quality improvement project within an infant mental health-based Early Head Start program. Both strategies and challenges in implementing issues and lessons learned in the initial 2-year phase of the quality improvement…

Future-point learning is a perspective that anticipates new developments and concentrates on the future emerging into view. Future-point learning takes as its starting point the requirements of tomorrow and what will be needed in the future. This article discusses professional development for school leaders grounded in the idea of future-point…

Although focus groups continue to gain popularity in marketing and social science research, their use in program evaluation has been limited. Here we demonstrate how focus groups can benefit evaluators, program staff, policy makers and administrators by providing an in-depth understanding of program effectiveness from the perspective of…

This article delineates the results of 7 gifted program evaluation studies conducted in 20 different school districts and places them in the context of major areas for gifted program improvement. The author suggests that the field of gifted education may be vulnerable to losing its infrastructure at local levels if enhanced program development in…

According to the hedonic treadmill model, good and bad events temporarily affect happiness, but people quickly adapt back to hedonic neutrality. The theory, which has gained widespread acceptance in recent years, implies that individual and societal efforts to increase happiness are doomed to failure. The recent empirical work outlined here…

The University of Kansas Medical Center did a comprehensive review of the services provided in the Student Health Center (SHC). Using purpose-driven assessment techniques, areas needing improvement were identified. The results of the survey were presented to students and, with student support, student health fees were increased to fund desired…

Over the past decade, state legislatures have experienced increasing pressure to hold higher education accountable for student learning. This pressure stems from several sources, such as increasing costs and decreasing graduation rates. To explore the feasibility of one approach to measuring student learning that emphasizes program improvement, we…

The alternative education program remains a viable response for engaging students who would otherwise be dropouts. Raywid (1994) synthesized and advanced an alternative school typology describing organizational characteristics with related effectiveness that appeared useful for considering and improving program practices. A Unique opportunity…

The Improving Teacher Quality (ITQ) program released Requests for Proposals in March for the next round of teacher professional development projects. The first RFP, Addressing the Achievement Gap in Middle Schools (AAGMIS), is for stand-alone grants similar to the 2008 projects that target the achievement gap in elementary schools. The second RFP,…

Whether a school library program is the picture of good health in a state that mandates a professionally staffed library media center in every building or is suffering in a low-wealth district that is facing drastic cuts, the recently launched toolkits by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) are stocked with useful strategies and…

The process of program evaluation was utilized to evaluate the education program, provide information to make decisions on its ability to comply with mandates from the state education department, and develop or improve the program to meet the goals of the new initiative to meet the needs of English language learners. The program evaluation process…