Qualitive data from interviews with individuals and observations of group meetings were gathered from 16 school districts that participated in a study of school district uses of evaluation and test data. The findings are organized around a series of discrete topics presented in a set of independent papers. The title essay, "Working Knowledge,"…

Important factors in assessing performance of handicapped individuals in transitional, supported employment include secondary school vocational performance, assessment and placement, resources for supported employment, and on-the-job performance, and the social ecology of the workplace. (CB)

The author advances the argument that evaluation is unique not in purpose, but in environment. The evaluator operates within ethical, organizational, and political contexts in order to achieve utilization of a context-responsive evaluation. (LMO)

An Interview With Kiley Walsh In her ground-breaking study, titled "After the Test: How Schools Are Using Data to Close the Achievement Gap", researcher Kiley Walsh shows clear evidence of specific work being done to close achievement gaps. Walsh selected 32 schools across six counties in the San Francisco Bay Area and compared those…

Accountability for the preparation of tomorrow's teachers and administrators has come to academia with a full head of steam. Congress has declared that it is the institutions of higher education that must be accountable for increasing K-12 student achievement. As required by the 1998 Congress, colleges of education must begin annual submission and…

This discussion paper is intended to inform the further development of the National Research and Evaluation Strategy (NRES) by strengthening its focus on evaluation in Australian vocational education and training (VET). Chapter 1 discusses the implications for the role of evaluation that changes in VET have caused in the past decade. Chapter 2…

The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) was created by Congress to formulate policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Among the Board's responsibilities are developing objectives and test specifications and designing the assessment methodology for NAEP. This document provides the framework to guide the development…

The organization and operations of an evaluation unit in a local governmental agency are presented. How local evaluation units manage (1) external relations (to obtain funding, to gain access to data sources, and encourage evaluation use) and (2) internal operations (including staffing, communication, data collection, and analysis) are described.…

Discusses the use and advantages of integrated learning systems (ILSs) in elementary and middle grades, and reanalyzes 30 evaluations of ILSs by using effect size statistics. Research problems are described, including poor evaluation designs and inadequate data collection and analysis; and a table summarizes the ILS research reports and…

Identifies important criteria for assessing the quality of educational research and applies these 20 identified criteria to 2 recent international comparative studies in education, the Second International Science Study and the first International Assessment of Educational Progress. The major types of criteria are utility, propriety, and accuracy.…

Effectiveness in presenting information of a modified box plot and a multivariate STAR graph was compared with that of tables for a sample audience for evaluation results (133 school superintendents, 123 journalists, 100 school board members, 100 principals, 100 teachers). Individual item analysis offers guidance for designing multivariate…

Examines ways in which a principal of a racially and ethnically diverse school improved harmony and respect through listening to students' opinions. Reviews how to conduct a student survey and student town meetings for the exchange of ideas. Honest dialogue is essential to any effort to improve student relations. (SLD)

The utility of teacher ratings of student academic performance and psychosocial behaviors as technically sound indirect measures of student outcomes was demonstrated in a long-term study of the effects of background variables on a cohort of Danish children (n=350). The Baker-Mednick Teacher Rating Form was developed for this purpose. (SLD)

Formative, in-process evaluation results can be used to refine or "fine tune" Even Start programs. The assumption is that the programs have obtained comprehensive and appropriate empirical data on the assessment of the program as a whole as well as its specific goals. This six-step model uses evaluation data to improve program delivery.…

In light of the National Education Goals of 1990, several arguments against any federally funded large-scale census approach to the assessment of college student learning in the United States are presented to clarify challenges to an objective of Goal 5, which specifies that "the proportion of college graduates who demonstrate advanced…