This updated curriculum planning guidebook is a resource for fire educators throughout the state of Massachusetts. It is designed to be a tool in efforts to: identify fire problems in the community; select appropriate behaviors and lessons to correct the fire problems; design fire education programs; and implement and evaluate the programs. The…

This report is designed to help educators more keenly understand technology's potential to enhance student learning. It also offers information and insights to help school leaders effectively integrate technology into instruction and provide the support their staff needs to operate in a technology-enriched learning environment. The report…

There are many ways to assess the effectiveness of school conflict resolution training (CRT) programs. Some methods require extensive resources, but others, conducted by CRT practitioners themselves, also provide useful information. This digest presents a framework for CRT evaluation by practitioners that enables them to reflect productively on…

The Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) report is a compilation of accountability indicators, including student learning, academic programs, faculty productivity, and financial accountability. According to the December 1997 data, 91% of students enrolled in TBR universities or two-year institutions said they were "very satisfied" or "Satisfied" with…

Many program evaluations involve some type of statistical testing to verify that the program has succeeded in accomplishing initially established goals. In many cases, this takes the form of null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) with t-tests, analysis of variance, or some form of the general linear model. This paper contends that, at least…

This paper discusses the development of evaluation strategies for a nonprofit child abuse prevention agency in Maryland. The Family Tree, an organization associated with National Parents Anonymous and the National Exchange Club Foundation for the Prevention of Child Abuse, serves more than 15,000 people per year through community training,…

This paper describes the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods to evaluate a project designed to define a state system of care for meeting the needs of people with concurrent disorders of mental illness and substance abuse. The evaluation was intended to develop a feedback system to provide program implementers with information about…

This document draws on more than 50 years of gang program evaluations to summarize what has been learned about: (1) prevention programs, including early childhood, school-based, and afterschool initiatives; (2) intervention programs, including those that work to create violence-free zones, establish gang summits and truces, and rehabilitate gang…

The United Nations has declared the year 2000 "The Year for the Culture of Peace." A "culture of peace" implies more than a passive and quiescent state due to an absence of war and violence. To attain a culture of peace, people must actively strive toward positive values which enable different cultures and nations to coexist…

Family support programs have proliferated in many different settings in response to an increasing emphasis in the public policy arena on a family support strategy. This book offers guidelines for effective family support practice representing the consensus of family support practitioners as assessed in focus groups with over 2,000 staff and parent…

Research suggests that quality home literacy activities make a difference in children's reading development. The federally funded Title I program of the Charlotte County, Florida school system promoted the role of parents as reading tutors in a way that supported the district's literacy development goals and philosophy. Parent involvement plans…

This report, written in French and German, provides an evaluation of a pilot program, begun during the 1999-2000 school year, in which Kindergarten students (aged 5 to 6 years) in the French-speaking town of Cressier and the German-speaking town of Jeuss-Lurtigen-Salvenach, both in the bilingual Fribourg/Freiburg Canton of Switzerland,received 10%…

This guide examines claims for 24 schoolwide programs-- programs that promise to improve student learning by changing the entire school. Focusing on quantitative achievement measures such as test scores, grades, and graduation rates, the report was prepared for educators and others to assist them in their investigation of different approaches to…

Over the last 2 years, Accelerated Literacy Learning (ALL) has experimented with the small group model in early literacy intervention, with success comparable to that in one-to-one intervention. There can be little doubt that intervention provided to struggling readers is most effectively initiated at an early stage. The ALL program was conceived…

This higher education plan for Texas outlines the goals of closing the gaps in higher education participation and success, in educational excellence, and in funded research over the next 15 years. It outlines the four challenges that are the most critical to overcome for the future well-being of Texas. These challenges are presented as goals. The…