The Communities That Care Youth Survey measures risk and protective factors shown in prior studies to predict adolescent problem behaviors such as drug use, delinquency, and violence. This paper describes the development and validation of cut points for the risk and protective factor scales in the Communities That Care Youth Survey that…

The Women in Science Scale (WiSS) was first developed in 1984, and is still being used in contemporary studies, yet its psychometric properties have not been evaluated with current statistical methods. In this study, the WiSS was administered in its original 27-item form to 1,439 middle and high school students. Confirmatory factor analysis based…

Community development partnerships for youths offer valuable resources for school improvement. Unfortunately, these resources may not be tapped because school leaders have not been prepared to understand these partnerships. The evaluative research reported partnership-related understanding, aiming to prepare leaders to contribute to, and benefit…

In 1991, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (OSERS) authorized, under the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), a specific grants program. The State Systems for Transitions Services for Youth with Disabilities Program made available competitive 5-year grants to individual states for establishing responsive state…

Electronic Classroom is an Australian-developed software product that provides a shared screen facility between two to six Apple Macintosh computers using standard telephone lines and modems. It provides an icon-based "paint" interface with point and click switching of control between sites. Used in conjunction with an additional voice…

Evaluation is important to public education and training programs if the United States is to be competitive in a global economy. Six major factors have had an impact on evaluation efforts: decreased financial resources, increased public dissatisfaction, changed management approaches, enhanced evaluation methods and procedures, redesigned…

The Tell-Me-A-Story Apperceptive Test (TEMAS) is an individual apperceptive test, similar to the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) of personality assessment. The TEMAS is intended for use with children and adolescents ages 5-18 years old, and is marketed as a personality assessment tool for minority, primarily Hispanic and African-American, and…

This paper questions whether it is appropriate to evaluate music educators exclusively on general competencies, or whether effective music teaching involves certain teaching behaviors, characteristics, and attributes that are so significantly unique that they demand their own set of evaluative criteria. The paper reviews selected relevant research…

Statewide assessments, developed by several states, of student learning in the visual arts, copies of their visual arts assessment tests, technical manuals, supporting documentation, and evaluative approaches other than testing were critically described within this study. Information gathered resulted in grouping the descriptions of state level…

A study developed criteria for judging state standards for the English language arts and reading and analyzed the 28 current standards documents. The criteria used for judging the standards relate to the purpose, audience, expectations, and assumptions of the standards documents; the organization of the standards; disciplinary coverage of the…

The Project on State-Level Child Outcomes is designed to assist states and other groups to improve the measurement of child outcomes in state welfare evaluations and in other state data systems. This report summarizes the first meeting of the five states (Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota) that participated in the operational phase of…

This report focuses on the question of how to evaluate workplace education programs. Chapter 1 outlines the various purposes that those involved in workplace education programs have defined for workplace education and describes program models in place to meet those goals. Chapter 2 sets out three scenarios for evaluation at present: informal,…

Providing information on assessment and institutional effectiveness programs in South Carolina, this two-part document describes the use of performance indicators (PI's) and presents state guidelines for institutional effectiveness. The first part discusses assessment in South Carolina, indicating that institutions are required to develop measure…

The Texas Teacher Appraisal System (TTAS), which evaluates teachers for career ladder placement, is compared with Hunter's model of effective teaching behaviors in this report. Teaching behaviors set forth in each model include encouraging student participation, providing feedback, efficiently managing instructional time, effectively organizing…

This paper cites several examples of the outcomes assessment activities taking place on college campuses and their impact on the freshman educational experience. Outcomes assessment is viewed as the impetus for faculty to make responsive improvements in higher education practices. Improvements derived from assessment activities are being…