Randomized experiments are often seen as the "gold standard" for causal research. Despite the fact that experiments use random assignment to treatment conditions, units are seldom selected into the experiment using probability sampling. Very little research on experimental design has focused on how to make generalizations to well-defined…

Results of the academic achievement of American Indian students in the Robeson County, North Carolina School Administrative Unit are presented in this document. As part of an evaluation of an educational program funded under the Indian Elementary and Secondary School Assistance Act, this document reflects program impact upon the county, its Lumbee…

In studying the effectiveness of different instructional programs, a criterion measure can favor one of the programs because there is greater overlap between the content covered on the test and in that program. This overlap can be measured using teacher estimates or teacher estimates combined with curriculum analysis. (Author/BW)

When a program evaluation is conducted on the basis of gains made in standardized achievement test scores between a pretest and a posttest, serious bias can result where a floor effect exists on one or both of the test levels. Based upon the expanded standard scores on the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills from three successive regular spring…

The 39-day Summer Academic Skills Achievement Program in Franklin County, Ohio, was designed to increase the basic reading and mathematics skills of persons of at least high school age. It enabled clients to earn a full credit and up to $200 ($3.35 an hour) for successfully completing the program. Among the major findings of an evaluation of the…

To assess attainment of basic skills, the San Diego Board of Education mandates that all students in regular programs at grades 5, 7, 9 and 11 be tested by the Districtwide Testing Program. This evaluation report presents the academic achievement of Grade 11 (Fall 1984) students in comparison with (1) a national norm group and (2) previous years…

The School Improvement Program (SIP) was implemented in 5 Columbus (Ohio) public schools during the 1982-83 school year, 18 public schools during the 1983-84 school year, 26 public schools during the 1984-85 school year, and 15 public schools during the 1985-86 school year. The objective of SIP was to improve the academic achievement of students…

This report describes the major outcomes of the Response to Educational Needs Project (RENP), a compensatory education program implemented by the Anacostia district of Washington, D.C. The problem of students falling further and further behind is discussed with particular reference to reading and mathematics achievement, training teachers to cope,…

The current study is an extension fo the Instructional Dimensions Study (IDS), part of a comprehensive study of compensatory education programs. This study had two purposes: (1) to investigate achievement changes over the summer of 1977 and during the 1978 calendar year for IDS students, and (2) to compare summer gains of compensatory and…

Prescription Learning is a multi-media diagnostic prescriptive program providing individualized instruction using six instructional strategies. Nine elementary schools and four middle schools in the Portland Public School District used Prescriptive Learning to provide supplemental reading and math instruction to low-performing students. Selected…

The Penn Manor CRT/Curriculum Articulation Project was designed to study the impact of the implementation of four specific interventions on the achievement of elementary school students in mathematics and language arts. The interventions were as follows: (1) classroom teachers were given individual curriculum skill objectives for their grade…

The effectiveness of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Title I reading and mathematics laboratories were evaluated to assess the improvement of underachieving elementary school students' academic skills. Laboratory students were selected on the basis of academic (rather than socioeconomic) criteria in grades 2 through 5; the control…

The Competency-based Middle School Program (grades 6-8) and the Competency-based Secondary School Project (grades 9-11) were funded by the South Carolina State Department of Education under the Elementary Secondary Education Act Title IV-C. These programs were to provide instruction based on the principles of mastery learning in helping middle…