Fourth in a series of seven volumes reporting the design, methodology, and findings of the 4-year National Day Care Home Study (NDCHS), this volume presents findings obtained from interviews with parents of children attending family day care. The central aim of the parent component of the NDCHS was to obtain descriptions of parents' needs,…

Personal interviews with teachers, administrators, and counselors in grades 1-6 at two elementary schools in the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) examined their attitudes toward two sets of DCPS guidelines governing student promotion and retention. One set of guidelines was in use before 1976, the other afterwards. Questionnaires…

The methods used by a college freshman composition teacher to make writing an authentic and natural activity for students are outlined in this paper. Among the techniques described are the use of (1) warm-up activities to encourage sharing written efforts, with teacher-as-participant; (2) peer editing groups; (3) reflection questions; (4) student…

Following a discussion of a number of objective methods of program evaluation, the author recommends a more subjective or existential model. Described briefly are the behavioral objectives model, the goal-free model, the systems analysis model, the decision-making model, the accreditation and adversary models, and the transactional model. The…

Fourteen appendices are gathered in this companion volume to a report summarizing the second year of a 3-year evaluation project focusing on three Utah programs funded under Title IV of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The appendices all relate to one of the three programs, Title IV-Part C (IV-C), which allocates funds for the adoption…

Focusing on the continuing education (CE) of scientists/engineers in North Carolina working in small (1-500 employees), geographically dispersed companies, this study: 1) identified and described CE resources currently being used by scientists/engineers to maintain and extend their professional competence and capabilities; 2) determined the extent…

This module, Occupational Knowledge, is one of five from Project DECIDE, which was created to design, develop, write, and implement materials to provide adult basic education administrators, instructors, para-professionals, and other personnel with curriculum to accompany the Indiana Adult Basic Education Curriculum Guide, "Learning for…

To assess structural coupling in schools, investigators must first have measures with established reliability and validity levels. Structural coupling refers to the mechanisms and norms in organizations that influence interactions among individuals. For three structural coupling measurement techniques--participant observation, interviews, and…

An Indiana study was conducted to research adequacy of employment and training programs to displaced homemakers, assess characteristics of displaced homemakers, assess effectiveness of past and current programs, and make recommendations. Information on characteristics of displaced homemakers was gained from 280 respondents at six workshops, 146…

The overall purpose of the national Head Start evaluation is to assess the impact, on the children and parents being served, of: the educational services component of Head Start, and a new demonstration program within Head Start, Basic Educational Skills. The evaluation deals with a total of 65 Head Start programs and their families. These…

This booklet is designed to help the mature job seeker or career changer establish goals, implement plans, and inspire action. The materials provide action signals to help the mid-life career changer move toward the achievement of career goals. Realities of reentry into the job market are described and an approach to career decision making and job…

This document contains the appendices of a study undertaken to determine the nature of popular interest in and demand for cultural and artistic activities in 13 southern states. The general objective of the study was to provide information to policy makers on public opinion regarding the relative merits of "elitist activities" (high…

This evaluative and developmental study was undertaken between 1972-74 to determine the effectiveness of items used for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) in relationship to other item types used in assessing English proficiency, and to recommend possible changes in TOEFL content and format. TOEFL was developed to assess the English…

Competency scales were developed for 10 direct-entry occupations and 10 vocational education programs as part of Project ACCESS, a project to assess women's life experience learning for entrance into employment and for advanced placement in vocational education programs. Development of the occupational scales involved employer interviews, followed…

This collection provides information on the communicative assessment, bilingualism, concepts in testing, and assessing language in context. The text is comprised of the following chapters: (1) "Communication Assessment of the Bilingual Bicultural Child," by J. Erickson; (2) "Concepts in Bilingualism and Their Relationship to Language Assessment,"…