This paper examines the issues arising when a set of federally funded model demonstration projects, the secondary curricula/student transition projects of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, were obligated by federal initiative to improve the amount, quality, and use of evaluation. These issues included: (1) the nature of…

This study sought to identify the most important, unanswered research questions in health education. Respondents consisted of 21 health educators selected by a panel of experts. The research methodology employed was a three round Delphi technique in which participants were asked to identify five significant research questions in health education…

To address the issue of how effectively speech communication instructors can be trained to develop longitudinal, "value-added" skills in their students one must first ask if they "should" be trained for such a task. One advantage is that it might be strategic for communication programs to initiate value-added testing so faculty…

When gathering and presenting educational statistics, five principles should be considered. (1) The data must be accurate, valid, and complete. Limitations, weaknesses, margins of error, and levels of confidence should be clearly stated. (2) The data must include comparable information, sought in comparable ways, in comparable forms, from…

State legislatures and others are recommending and, in some cases, mandating reforms in education including evaluating students' ability to meet stated objectives. This "ideal" situation poses a major problem concerning instruments needed to assess process skills. In the real world, educators do not yet have nationally recognized, valid,…

Quantitative assessment instruments have been developed to identify those skills or behaviors which individuals with developmental disabilities need in order to become competitively employed, and to measure individuals' progress in the program and hence measure program effectiveness. Such assessment instruments are problematic, as each employment…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) was initiated in the mid-1960's to collect student achievement information over time and describe the data in ways meaningful to the nation's educational and civic leaders. This work presents the Florida perspective on how NAEP can be improved to aid educational decision-makers in the…

Examined is the critical issue of the quality of teaching and learning in postsecondary education. Written by nine experts in the evaluation of instruction, the book asks the questions: Should university teachers be evaluated?; If so, with what goals in mind and by what methods should they be judged?; What are the effects of teacher evaluation on…

This document, one in a series developed to provide technical assistance to 22 Long-Term Care Gerontology Centers, addresses the application of evaluation procedures within centers and their component programs and projects, including: (1) interdisciplinary education and training; (2) service and practice model development; (3) research; (4)…

An undergraduate competency-based teacher education curriculum was evaluated after it had been in effect for three years. To generate a workable system for the collection and use of formative evaluation data, a list of program characteristics were identified, as well as a set of teaching skills and competencies relating to subject knowledge. Two…

Beginning in 1970, the Cincinnati Public Schools experienced a shift in emphasis from centralized evaluation to local school program development and evaluation. Three functional models currently operate to evaluate three programs: Title I, alternative integration, and disadvantaged students. Each is distinguished by the level of trust existing…

Although much has been written about educational evaluation, few guidelines exist for consumers--project directors, school administrators, curriculum developers, legislators, teachers, parents, and boards of education. Several cautions surface from a review of the literature. First, tests that are based on program objectives are most useful to…

To comply with the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) and with explicit federal guidelines for equal employment opportunity, local employment and training agencies funded by CETA need to develop client assessment programs. This volume and its companion are designed for this purpose. Five original program descriptions, and findings…

As part of the development of a collection of criterion-referenced test reviews, a survey was conducted to determine the information needs of educators who select tests. Three aspects of test selection were emphasized: (1) factors affecting choices among available tests; (2) consumers' knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes about criterion referenced…

A research project was undertaken to make an inventory of the needs in the training and professional development of directors, assistant directors, and teachers in elementary and secondary French-language schools in Ontario. The report is divided into three sections and a conclusion. The first chapter reviews the literature on the evaluation of…