Seven evaluation questions and strategies are presented about the quality of services provided by early intervention programs. Questions address such aspects as exemplary practices model implementation, performance and progress monitoring, and sensitivity to client/community needs. (Author/CL)

Examines budgetary cutbacks in federal data systems. Concludes that (1) justifications for cutbacks are unconvincing; (2) cutbacks have affected data availability and quality severely; (3) the feasibility of the idea that major data users should collect their own information is dubious; and (4) special evaluation studies cannot substitute for…

This article examines the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) and explores desirable evaluation methods and criteria suggested by the language in the current legislation and by the contemporary literature about program evaluation. Related problems and opportunities for JTPA evaluation are discussed. (CT)

Illustrates steps in the evaluation process, reports findings from the evaluation, demonstrates the importance of planning evaluations before programs are implemented, and encourages the use of evaluation techniques in program development. (JOW)

Impact evaluation of Retrieval and Acceleration of Promising Young Handicapped and Talented, a model program for gifted and talented handicapped preschoolers, revealed that 28 project children in three sites demonstrated statistically significant gains in self-esteem, purposiveness, creativity, and talent area functioning. (CL)

Analysis of 43 states' practices in involving parents in monitoring the appropriateness of educational services (as suggested in the regulations for P.L. 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act), revealed that parents have little direct involvement in the monitoring process. Training can help parents assume a larger role. (CL)

The paper describes an approach to individualize group instruction and evaluates preacademic/academic program effects for normally and autistic-like children. Features of the procedure include: individualized curriculum; frequent assessment of invention impact, opportunities to revise curricular objectives; planning lessons; management of group…

Shows how a school writing program based on the National Writing Project model can be presented in the framework of a simple accountability system devised by Leon Lessinger. (FL)

Describes some evaluation designs and shows how they can be used to access intended and unintended outcomes. (JOW)

Registered nurses returning to college need flexible options that meet learning needs while capitalizing on educational strengths. This article describes the rationale for the Guided Study Design and how it is implemented and evaluated. (JOW)

One explanation for the apparent failure to achieve the objectives of citizen involvement in policy planning and greater agency sensitivity to citizen interests is that advocates have not based goals on sound empirical and theoretical grounds. A number of propositions are suggested. (Author/IRT)

The instructional television system in Washington County, Maryland has perhaps the longest continuous history of any ITV project in the world. This paper presents a detailed analysis of actual project costs, and utilization over time, with comparisons to ITV systems in other countries and with traditional instruction. (BD)

In recent years, Web technologies have helped expand distance education in higher education. Online programs have become widely and generally accepted in many countries. According to the U.S. Department of Education, the number of Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) offering distance education has increased by one-third since 1994-1995; and 44…

This volume is the fourth in a series related to a project to create a Regional University Network on Governance and Management of Higher Education in South East Europe. It is both an essay on and source manual for quality assurance in higher education. Part 1 describes the origins and concepts of quality assurance systems that have been emerging…