The educational audit is suggested for assessing the process of inquiry for reliability and the product of inquiry for absence of bias. The inquiry auditor must review the inquiry processes to determine that they conform to norms of "good professional practice." He must review inquiry products to ensure they can be substantiated from…

The School Improvement Project (SIP) and Local School Development Project are two school-based constituency planning programs. The Documentation Unit is responsible for ongoing documentation and evaluation of them. The goals of the unit included holistic school assessment, development of school based needs assessment and evaluation activities, and…

This report compares three approaches to descriptive research, focusing on the kinds of descriptions developed and on the methods used to develop the descriptions. The main emphasis in all three approaches is on verbal data. In these approaches the importance of interpretation and its intuitive nature are emphasized. The three approaches, however,…

It has been suggested since the early 80's that America's public schools are not meeting the needs of America's citizenry and that the schools are in need of repair. This paper describes a study conducted at Neville High School (Louisiana) in 1996-1997 and designed to examine the effects of facility renovation on faculty morale. Data collection…

A method and apparatus for collecting and interpreting eye movement data is described that is both relatively inexpensive and portable. The study lists and describes hardware and software components of a data collection and data analysis system which provides precise information regarding the location, duration, and sequence of eye fixations while…

A successful program to improve personnel attendance has reduced sick leave in 40 New Jersey school districts without increasing dismissals, grievances, or costs. The author describes the five steps in this Attendance Improvement Program (AIP), including (1) analysis of data on staff absences due to illness; (2) preparation of operating guidelines…

This paper outlines purposes of program evaluation and provides practical information to help individuals from a wide spectrum of backgrounds use evaluation to move their program ahead in a purposeful manner. Wisely moving ahead requires an assessment of an organization's past and present as well as an examination of its assumptions about the…

The purposes of educational paperwork, the reasons it may be excessive, and suggestions for mitigating excessive paperwork are presented in this document. According to the author, educational paperwork has four purposes: as a substitute for onsite inspection, as a "pseudo-contract" to encourage compliance, as a due process and…

This paper is based on the premise that relatively little is known about how to improve validity in qualitative research and less is known about how to estimate validity in studies conducted by others. The purpose of the study was to describe the conceptualization of validity in qualitative inquiry to determine how it was used by the author of a…

This report presents concepts, procedures, and instruments to be used in studying staff development in educational settings. The report has been structured as a set of guidelines designed to help state agencies, county offices, teacher centers, universities, school districts, and local school faculties collaborate in investigating the dynamics of…

With constant changes taking place in the practice of public relations, evaluation and modification are requisite to maintaining a competitive degree program with competitive graduates. Whether a program is in the process of being developed or is being evaluated for certification or reaccreditation, it is critical to look to current and future…

A framework for assessing the implementation and impact of office automation (OA) technology within shore-based facilities of the U.S. Navy is provided. Following a list of the assumptions guiding the evaluation plan, a model for data collection is presented which is based on the perspective of a work group, i.e., a small number of individuals who…

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the utility of mark-sense readers in locally produced evaluations. The term mark-sense reader refers to a class of electronic devices that convert marks made on a paper sheet to electronic information by means of either electrical or optical sensing of the marks. The most common use of mark-sense readers has…

The Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Public Schools (MPS) recently implemented a new, state-designed accounting system, called the Wisconsin Elementary and Secondary School Accounting System (WESSAS), based on guidelines proposed in the U.S. Office of Education's Handbook II. This report describes and discusses that implementation and provides numerous…

Developed to provide an alternative system for identifying emotional disturbance in students, the manual begins by briefly reviewing problems in current identification approaches. An emotionally disturbed person is defined in the paper as someone who exhibits either too much or too little of a socially significant behavior. An approach is then…