This mixed-method study examined the impact of an online formative assessment tool on the language and early literacy skills development of 204 3-4-year-old children enrolled in Head Start. Twenty-four classroom and children participated in a two-group randomized control trial, in which classrooms in the treatment condition implemented weekly…

Federal statistics form the foundation and are the standard for private statistics. Reliable and accurate statistics are increasingly used in complex models of the economy and society that have become important tools for management of large business concerns and for policy planning in governmental bodies. Reductions in government funding threaten…

Preliminary findings of this research effort provide support for the hypothesis that existing databases maintained by federal agencies for administrative or monitoring purposes can serve as useful data sources in special education policy research. The research explored the relationships among a number of state-level special education, fiscal, and…

Since July 1978, RMC Research Corporation has been conducting a study concerned with several aspects of the Title I Evaluation and Reporting System (TIERS). Phases I and II included examination of technical and procedural issues, development of system materials, and assessment of state evaluation reports. Phase III was intended to be an…

To identify the essential core of statistical data needed to plan improvements in library and information services in the United States, one must examine some recent trends in public administration methods and their potential applicability to the library field. Public administrators increasingly regard planning as a cycle: perception of needs,…

The Consumer Information Center is a federal program which encourages federal agencies to develop and release consumer information to the public. It also promotes consumer awareness and access to information through the "Consumer Information Catalog" and a mail order distribution operation. Through research, the Center can learn the…

The papers presented at the symposium include: Student Loans: Some Practical Radical Alternatives (D. Bruce Johnstone); Solving the Student Loan Problem by Supplementing Government Loan Policy--An Expanded Role for Institutional Aid Administrators in the 1980's (Kurt L. Kendis); Estimating Manageable Educational Loan Limits for Graduate and…

This report summarized briefly some of the federal legislation now pending or recently enacted that has implications for library service and for librarians. It covers the first six months of the first session of the 94th Congress, which convened January 14, 1975. The first section of the report discusses appropriations bills, without which funds…

The movement toward integration of qualitative and quantitative research methods within the same study has been most evident in social policy research. Four major approaches to integrating can be identified in recent studies. The sequential, the parallel, and the fused models have been rather widely used. The interactive model, developed during…

In April 1976, 95 educational program evaluators were asked the question, "What do you think will be the relationship between the new collective bargaining law (SB160) and the operation and evaluation of A-127 (state and federally funded) education programs?" Working in small groups, participants accomplished the following: (1) They…

In an effort to help make products safer and to reduce product-related injuries, the Consumer Product Safety Commission relies heavily on consumer participation. To establish regulations, it utilizes the following: (1) an "Offeror" regulation whereby groups can offer to manage the safety standards development process; (2) a consumer…

Studies of the use of ethnography as an evaluation tool in large-scale contract research studies were reviewed before data collection and design decisions were finalized in response to a Request for Proposal (RFP). Five tasks had to be accomplished before data collection could begin: study sites were selected, a system for data collection was…

Three different approaches to metaevaluation are described and shown to have been applied to the study of Project Follow Through. These approaches include evaluation of primary evaluations, integrative meta-analysis in which results from several primary evaluations are combined, and secondary analysis involving the independent reanalysis of the…

"Postsecondary" education, that is, education beyond the 12th-grade level, includes vocational, technical, trade, and business schools as well as two- and four-year colleges. The institutions may be public, private, or proprietary. Emphasis on the wide spectrum stems from a national tenet--that there is honor and dignity in work whether…

Both smaller and larger school districts allocate 3 percent of total budgets, or $4.00 per pupil, for program evaluation. Of this $4.00, $3.00 is spent on outcome or process evaluation, 60 cents on program planning/needs assessment, and 40 cents on dissemination/utilization. Findings are from an evaluation budget procedures survey of evaluation…