This paper provides practical guidance for scholars and practitioners looking to develop more rigorous, comprehensive, and inclusive research that could guide proactive efforts to improve access, experiences, and outcomes for college students with disabilities. To do so, we (a) identify critical challenges affecting research and assessment related…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) challenges state education agencies (SEAs) to improve student outcomes by addressing the student-, teacher-, and school-level factors that drive achievement gains. This Guide for Identifying Evidence-Based Interventions for School Improvement is intended to help State Education Agencies (SEAs) carefully…

"Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning" presents a clear and carefully tested blueprint for school leaders. It shows how examining test scores and other classroom data can become a catalyst for important schoolwide conversations that will enhance schools' abilities to capture…

This article is an outgrowth of the evaluation and assessment process in a large interdisciplinary studies (IDS) program at West Virginia University. We argue for the importance of collecting and assessing quantitative and qualitative data concerning learning outcomes, student satisfaction, career choice and development, and graduate education…

This toolkit is designed to help community schools evaluate their efforts so that they learn from their successes, identify current challenges, and plan future efforts. It provides a step-by-step process for planning and conducting an evaluation at your community school site(s). The toolkit is a practical, hands-on guide that makes it possible for…

The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE), a unit within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), is responsible for advising the Assistant Secretary for Children and Families on increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of programs to improve the economic and social well-being of children and families. In collaboration…

Based on the ACE Project on Leadership and Institutional Transformation, examines how universities can develop the capacity to assess change and determine the extent to which institutions are different. Defines transformation, describes types of evidence, presents a framework for determining evidence, suggests strategies for collecting evidence,…

The applicability of conventional measurement techniques in the assessment and evaluation of a middle school educational program has been disputed. The objectives of this program include assisting students in the development of several areas. Among these are independence, healthy self concepts, viable ethical and value systems, socially…

This document is the fifth volume in a set of five Career Education Measurement Handbooks intended to help local education personnel in measurement and evaluation. Divided into seven chapters, this handbook is designed to provide practical guidelines for using observational techniques to take readings of the feelings, perceptions, and reactions of…

Longitudinal data about individual students and groups of students can be used to track their progress in ways that hold district-level administrators, school principals, and teachers responsible for what's happening in schools. The key is to examine data that show how well individual students perform in specific classrooms in specific schools.…

This resource book is designed to guide school systems through a decision-making process to design an assessment system that is best suited to their particular needs. The assessment system will collect information from children through assessment measures and perhaps other sources of data, such as health records and demographic data. The…

Addresses the need to include all available data (physical, environmental, language, cognitive, affective, and educational correlates of reading) to evaluate students' reading strengths and weaknesses. Argues that this holistic approach makes the assessment of reading skills efficient and avoids test replication. (RS)

This guidebook aims to provide clear, non-technical descriptions of procedures for evaluating the effectiveness of local gifted education programs in Virginia. The procedures were developed with both external and internal evaluations in mind. The evaluation process is described in four phases: planning, collecting the data, interpreting the data…

This report provides a comprehensive account of the performance of students with disabilities on state assessment measures. Following an overview of the issues, it explains the laws that govern the reporting of assessment results (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 (IDEA) and Title I of the Elementary and Secondary…

With accurate information, educators are better able to make effective decisions. Besides being used to assess student performance, a complete program of data collection and use can also show educators how management skills, individual learning styles, and other elements affect student achievement. This digest provides an overview of how…