The Minnesota Tech Prep Self-Evaluation System is a framework based on ideas from Deming, Juran, and the Baldridge award. Testing with 17 Minnesota tech prep consortia found it effective in identifying areas needing improvement and promoting dialog among those involved in tech prep implementation. (SK)

Vanderbilt University School of Nursing used the Batalden model of systems improvement to change its program. The model analyzes services and products, customers, social community need, and customer knowledge to approach improvements in a systematic way. (JOW)

Describes the Information Technology Career Cluster Initiative and the tools it has developed to help educators improve information technology programs. Suggests that educators use the model and tools to guide program development, improvement, and expansion. (JOW)

Developed method for empirically evaluating functioning of peer-based alcohol abuse prevention organization. Used results to design intervention to improve organization's functioning by increasing student control, enhancing cohesiveness, and providing training in leadership skills and alcohol use. Reassessment one year later indicated that…

This article surveys the current state of curriculum options for gifted preschoolers, and provides data from a survey of 60 educators of preschoolers in South Carolina concerning attitudes about appropriate curricula and instruction. Drawing on these results a list of recommendations for improvements in preschool programs is offered. (PB)

Conducting research about camp programs begins with asking a question and determining the nature of the question--whether it requires a needs assessment, an evaluation process, original data, or a cost/benefit analysis. Discusses factors to consider in deciding whether to allow existing staff members to conduct a study, or to contract with an…

South Carolina's Agricultural Service Laboratory received responses from 252 of 500 farmers who currently use the soil testing service; 97% were pleased with accuracy, 89% with turnaround time, 18% thought the fee too high. Nonusers (100 of 520) were mainly dissatisfied with turnaround time. Total quality management methods were used to improve…

Interviews with university, state, and local educators highlighted some of the admirable qualities of tech prep (relevance, value to non-college-bound students) and some barriers (lack of standards/guidelines, articulation problems, need for inservice training and employer involvement). (JOW)

This article addresses assumptions that currently guide personnel training and technical assistance in organizations providing services to people with disabilities. Implications of a quality improvement perspective are then considered as they apply to new perspectives on roles, on decision-making processes, and on evaluation. (DB)

Drawing on a realistic model for evaluating compensatory education effects, Chapter 1 staff members have developed a workshop series aimed at improving the effectiveness of local Chapter 1 programs. Improvement efforts are to be data driven, research based, team centered, locally controlled, systematic, and focused on student outcomes. (20…

Refutes three evaluation myths--(1) evaluation is findings; (2) outcomes are hard to measure; and (3) evaluation is an add-on--with three principles: (1) evaluation is a learning process; (2) soft data about important issues are better than hard data about unimportant issues; and (3) meaningful evaluation is integrated into teaching and learning.…

Four conditions for creating or refining alternative teacher certification programs are improving instruction, addressing shortages of qualified teachers, placing teachers in hard-to-staff schools, and measuring teacher competence. Programs should be pragmatic, market sensitive, embedded in the learning context, and performance driven. (SK)

Briefly reviews counseling profession's call for revitalization and transformation in school counseling and guidance programs. Summarizes one school system's efforts during late 1980s and early 1990s to transform its program from services and crisis orientation into a comprehensive developmental model based on Myrick's developmental guidance and…

Cooperative education as work-based learning has been around for decades. Co-op programs can be revitalized by using electronic communications with employers and customizing classroom assignments so they relate to students' work tasks. (Author/JOW)

Suggests a framework of six steps that can be used as a starting point to improve a secondary theater program to meet mandated standards: define motivation, study the standards, analyze the present program, create a planning team, determine student goals, and revise the curriculum. (PA)