This case study presents Cornell University's use of campus surveying to gather information from stakeholders for strategic planning purposes. The case study emphasizes how survey creation, distribution, analysis, and reporting of findings was woven into the strategic planning process. Every step of the process, from item generation to the use of…

How an elementary school (pseudonym, Sunny Days Elementary School) initiated school restructuring using the School Restructuring Process Model developed by Charles Reigeluth was studied, using formative evaluation to see how the actual experiences of the school might refine and improve the model. The model follows a three-phase process from…

Already a standard technique in anthropology, the life history method is widely used in the development of oral and local history, and within educational and social science research the method is growing in popularity. This is in large part due to the growing respectability of qualitative research in general. Part I of this paper explains the life…

This executive summary of a research project explores the general question of how school districts change their domains through the management of major proposals ("issues"). The study, which focused on case studies of three suburban superintendents' management of five to seven major issues, used raw data consisting of interviews with…

Two innovative methods for collecting and analyzing qualitative data are vignettes and pre-structured cases. Vignettes are descriptions of situations or problems written by a professional, with a suggested outline and comments provided by a researcher. Advantages of this method are strength of impact of the written descriptions and efficiency of…

Physicians, psychologists, and anthropologists have developed procedures and models for preparing case studies that meet the needs of their profession. In the field of educational evaluation, procedures for conducting student case studies are not readily available. Although case studies, consisting of descriptions of exemplary educational…

One of a series of reports concerned with the creation of new evaluation methodologies for use in education, this report contains a collection of thirteen brief statements of problems encountered first-hand by evaluation practitioners in state departments of education (SEAs). Its intent is to make available practitioner statements so that further…

This dissertation begins with a description of some methods employed in making public-sector resource-allocation decisions, with conclusions on the appropriateness of each method for evaluating the ongoing programs of a school system. The second section has been rewritten and published as "A Comprehensive Theory of Cost-Effectiveness" (EA 002…

Documents about adult education in Latin America at the Survey and Analysis Center of the Adult Education Association of the U.S.A. were reviewed to identify promising research directions. A theoretical framework for research should be developed and should include definitions of concepts and variables in different settings and identification of…

In this paper we consider an experiment in which 15 years old students explore a phenomenon of covariance, by using Cabri for drawing geometric figures, measuring, and sketching graphs. In this way they collect different types of information. A first research question is how students deal with them in situations of exploration, in particular,…

Asserts the importance of each school business official's responsibility to accurately report the school's financial situation to the state legislature. Uses Minnesota's 33 area vocational technical institutes to illustrate the application of statewide uniform financial accounting and reporting standards to Minnesota public school districts. (JBM)

Examines whether training teachers to apply research-based commenting guidelines can help them write comments between composition drafts that result in effective revisions. While results are inconclusive, they do indicate that students of English as a Second Language respond to teacher comments between drafts and write revisions according to the…

Illustrates how to use ethnographic techniques to acquire a better understanding of classroom dynamics. The article focuses on the characterization of "success" in an Italian class through analysis of interaction patterns and purposes of the participants. Findings reveal the need for a continuity of teacher and students' goals, methods, and forms…

Describes a program of supervision built around the goal of preparing reflective teachers. Additionally, the article presents results of a case study research project that reveals both success and failure at reaching this goal. Also, the authors discuss model reflectivity from their own teacher education practice. (GLR)

Discusses business training programs and the productivity of training materials, and presents a case study that describes the experiences of a university-based electronic curriculum development group that was involved with the conversion of an existing text curriculum to a multimedia CD-ROM format. Data collection with videotaped interviews is…