Educators and researchers often think of program design and program evaluation as separate endeavors, even intentionally creating a firewall between them. But what if designers and evaluators worked together, combining their insights to strengthen both the program and the study of it? In the work of evaluating a statewide professional learning…

Wisconsinites interested in pursuing a high school credential rely on the unique collaboration between the State GED Administrator at the Wisconsin Department of Instruction (DPI), the State Director of Adult Basic Education (ABE) and staff of the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS), and the many providers of instruction throughout the…

Background: Massachusetts is one of a very limited number of states exclusively employing participant-direction to deliver autism waiver services to children. A crucial element of this waiver program is the work conducted by the state's Department of Developmental Services (DDS) staff and state-approved providers with waiver families to facilitate…

Students with diabetes deserve a school nurse who can effectively manage the disease. Tensions between the school and families sometimes emerge when a child with diabetes goes to school. To resolve these tensions in Colorado, stakeholders collaborated to implement a statewide program to meet the needs of students with diabetes. Colorado school…

There is a timely movement afoot to secure the rightful place of social studies as a core part of curriculum at a time when it is increasingly compromised across the nation. The authors present a model that accepts the call to consider the enterprise of social studies research and broaden it to address the needs of the day. They offer a brief…

Little is known regarding the social network relationships that influence dissemination of evidence-based public health practices and policies. In public health, it is critical that evidence-based guidelines, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs," are…

State Extension programs can contribute to the successful adoption of national environmental education programs by making locally relevant resources available, creating reference materials to bridge between 4-H project books and other resources, and developing companion materials that supplement national materials with local issues and resources.…

The state of Indiana recommended a committee be formed to address the disproportional representation of black youth in out-of-home placements. In response, the Indiana Disproportionality Committee (IDC) was established. This article presents the development, objectives and future of the IDC. One of the objectives, research, will be offered as an…

The authors suggest that it will take a new dimension of teamwork under the Perkins Act to meet the challenges of the coming decade. Vocational education can be improved, they say, by close collaboration among the new state councils on vocational education, the state boards, the newly required technical committee, and a host of other groups. (CT)

"Collaboration" is a ubiquitously championed concept and widely recognized across the public and private sectors as the foundation on which the capacity for addressing complex issues is predicated. For those invested in organizational improvement, high-quality collaboration has become no less than an imperative. However, evaluators and program…

Analyzes the degree to which states have promoted a linkage of economic development and employment and training programs. It examines organizational rearrangements ranging from administration of these activities by a single agency to collaboration by separate organizational units through such methods as joint databases, planning, training, and…

The extent to which evaluation and auditing have converged on procedures in recent years and the extent to which they remain different are examined in the five chapters of this special issue. Different emphases, the question of collaboration with the subjects of inquiry, and issues of routinized performance are explored. (SLD)

The evaluation of Minnesota's Early Childhood Family Education program is described, and a dialog between one of the evaluators and an editor of this journal provides further insight into the evaluation process. Noteworthy in this evaluation, called exemplary by the American Evaluation Association, was highly motivated collaboration of evaluation…

To counter elementary school children's ignorance about farming, a 1981 Agriculture in the Classroom Task Force recommended that states create their own groups and awareness programs. This article describes cooperative efforts between private and public sector organizations in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Oregon, and Virginia. An address and…

Summarizes recent ERIC documents and journal articles and highlights some World Wide Web resources that discuss the efforts of states to fund prekindergarten programs. Highlights resources including information on delivery systems, coordination among various programs, analyses of policy trends, program descriptions, and models of family-school…