As beef industry trends have evolved, beef producers are looking for value-added beef practices and marketing strategies. To ensure that a new value-added beef Extension program framework at Iowa State University aligns with beef producers' needs, a needs assessment instrument was created. We developed a needs assessment tool focused on program…

High-quality training is a crucial investment in establishing and maintaining implementation fidelity as well as building educators' trust in the new process. Training approaches for educator evaluation vary both in format (i.e., how it's delivered) and content (i.e., what is provided). Train-the-trainer sessions, online professional learning…

As the use of online courses in high schools increases rapidly across the United States, schools are using courses from a multitude of sources to achieve a variety of educational goals. Policies and practices for monitoring student progress and success in online courses are also diverse. Yet few states formally track or report student…

The purpose of this paper is to inform evaluators of a method of evaluating capacity building in educational programs. One definition of capacity building is helping an organization increase its ability to fulfill its mission (Wing, 2004). Evaluators of capacity-building efforts therefore must focus on evidence that the program has helped to build…

Representatives of several states met to identify basic elements of a tracking system designed to ensure that disabled and at-risk infants and their families receive continuous and appropriate services to improve health and developmental outcome. Discussants explored six clusters of questions concerning the following: realistic goals and…

Based on the Iowa model for career education, this career education inventory presents a series of four tests for measuring a student's career education development. Following a list of student outcome objectives, tests are provided for four levels of career development: grades K-3, awareness; grades 4-6, accommodation; grades 7-9, exploration;…

The charge of the Committee on Strategies for Excellence was to examine the current status of elementary and secondary education in Iowa, and to investigate ways in which school districts could be educationally more productive. The report brings together recommendations from various state and national reports, reviews the literature, and makes…

This document consists of revised editions of both a handbook for coordinators and teachers of a 75-hour nurse aide course and the nurse aide curriculum itself. The handbook's stated purpose is to assist health coordinators in community colleges and secondary health occupations instructors to offer the course. Introductory materials include…

The summary of a statewide conference on future directions for Iowa education in congruence with national education goals and the results of a follow-up survey are the topics of this report. Roundtable discussion participants assessed 10 educational goals and their associated indicators in relation to validity of the indicators, barriers to…

This document was developed to encourage and aid local schools in the assessment of their science curricula on a continuous basis. It provides: (1) a 21-step implementation schedule for conducting a science curriculum assessment and/or revision; (2) a model for assisting schools in developing their science philosophy, goals, and topics; (3)…

Designed for use by local curriculum committees who are implementing computer education components of their school districts' multicultural, nonsexist education plans, this guide provides a list of definitions, a discussion of the rationale and philosophy of multicultural, nonsexist education, and the text of the legal authority for the use of…

This guide contains materials for use in conducting a 10-hour classroom and laboratory course to train individuals in the safe administration of nonparenteral medications in a 15-bed or smaller residential facility for mentally retarded persons, a child care facility, or a supervised apartment living setting. The guide begins with a course…