In fall 1988, the Board of Directors of the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology (SIAST) created a task force to study the training needs of the mining industry in the province and evaluate SIAST's responsiveness to those needs. After assessing the technological changes taking place in the industry, surveying manpower needs,…

Commencing as a reasonably funded research and development enterprise, the Regional Educational Laboratory Program has become an undercapitalized knowledge transfer operation, an "information utility," responsible for improving schools but constrained by inadequate funds and restrictive policies which confine the labs to working…

A study analyzed data on the nature and scope of vocational education programs in Arizona in order to supply information on the pool of trained workers produced annually by vocational education programs. The study examined data from secondary schools, community colleges, and proprietary schools to gain information about the numbers of people…

Quality circles can be defined as small groups of employees who meet regularly to solve problems and to find ways of improving aspects of their work. Quality circles are based on western ideas, but developed in Japan. Well-established guidelines for quality circles include support from management, clear reasons for the program, support of unions,…

The Research About Teacher Education (RATE) project is an ongoing data collection effort to establish a reliable data base about teacher education. Thirty schools were randomly selected from institutions offering bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees for a total of 90 institutions. Following a long-term plan for rotating targeted respondents,…

An objective of the Center for Teacher Education Evaluation (CTEE) at Tennessee Technological University (Cookeville) has been to create an evaluation model for teacher education to provide guidance for institutes of higher education. The model selected is the Accreditation Plus Model (APM). Steps covered in the model (or, steps an institution…

Recommendations for improving the educational programs of Hartford, Connecticut are presented in this document. In November 1983 the Hartford Board of Education held a symposium in which Board members, staff, parents, union members and representatives of the business community met to review six reports on educational reform. Five task force…

The responsive model of evaluation has been seen as an alternative to formal evaluation models. This model was used for the evaluation of a Certificate in Industrial Relations program in a Quebec French university. This study focused on two main objectives: first, the local utility of the program being assessed, along with the major problems…

On the premise that the benefits of adventure education far outweigh risks in any well managed program, this document provides such programs, which stand on relatively untested ground in the eye of the law in this litigious society, with strategies for reduction of risk by controlling the nature and frequency of accidents. The first section…

Recent Title I regulations have allowed local school districts to use Title I funds to establish schoolwide projects to upgrade the educational program for the entire school, not just for targeted students. Austin, Texas, used Title I and local funds to establish two schoolwide projects where pullout programs were ended and the pupil/teacher ratio…

In the first stage of a project to improve the general education offerings at Wayne State University (Michigan), the ad hoc committee on general education defined those basic academic skills that a general education program should promote. The process of defining and evaluating the basic skill of communication typified the process of defining and…

A follow-up study was conducted to investigate the long-term impact of using nearly $8 million of vocational education special-project funds in California community colleges. The study did not evaluate the projects themselves but assessed what had occurred afterward as a result of the funding. That is, the project identified and described program…

Evaluation, as currently practiced in vocational education, may not contribute to program improvement; in fact, it may be counterproductive. Rather than asking how evaluations can be improved, it might be better to ask if a relationship does, in fact, exist between evaluation and program improvement and, if such a relationship exists, what new…

Federal law (PL 94-142) has charged schools with the task of constructing for handicapped students individual educational programs that specify curriculum-based goals with procedures for measuring progress toward these goals. To demonstrate substantive and procedural compliance with this law, measurement and evaluation procedures must be…

In the last two decades, increasing concern has been expressed about the ability (or inability) of various governmental agencies, service organizations, and manufacturing organizations to effectively perform their tasks. Psychologists have only recently become involved in researching issues concerning the adoption, implementation, and…