This book examines approaches to the evaluation of students' critical thinking on programmatic, school-based, and classroom levels. The first chapter examines the nature of critical thinking and offers a definition as well as an appraisal of the definition. The second chapter looks at methods of gathering quality information on students' critical…

This technical report describes the methodology, results, and conclusions of a 1991 survey, which was conducted to determine state efforts to develop systems to assess educational outcomes, states' needs for solutions to technical/implementation problems, existing databases, and efforts of states to design a comprehensive system of indicators in…

The evaluation of professional support personnel (PSP)--counselors, school psychologists, nurses, curriculum specialists, library/media specialists, deans, and athletic directors--has received scant attention among researchers, theorists, and practicing administrators. This situation may reflect the inadequate tools for counselor and PSP…

This guide is designed to help educators and administrators evaluate educational technology programs. Primarily geared to educators or administrators with little or no research experience, it is intended for use at the district or school level. As more and more states, districts, and schools develop technology plans to ensure that technology will…

The nine-volume Survey Kit is designed to help readers prepare and conduct surveys and become better users of survey results. All the books in the series contain instructional objectives, exercises and answers, examples of surveys in use, illustrations of survey questions, guidelines for action, checklists of "dos and don'ts," and…

A research plan for investigating the effects of student portfolios on teaching and learning at three different school sites is described. The plan accommodates two categories of research questions: (1) broad, cross-site questions; and (2) site-specific questions generated by participants at each individual site. Data collection strategies…

This policy guide argues the need for improved indicators of student coursework, illustrates the information that different types of measures convey, outlines the key choices that need to be made about data collection, and suggests ways in which states might develop more valid and useful indicators of student coursework. In its broadest form,…

Some students are excluded from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) because of an inability, whether due to physical, mental, or linguistic barriers, to participate in studies requiring questionnaire or cognitive test completion. The implications of this exclusion for sample representativeness, national estimation, and…

The Program Review Extension Procedures (PREP) set forth in this manual are a flexible set of procedures and questionnaires designed for use by Michigan community colleges in evaluating non-occupational instructional areas. First, introductory material explains that PREP is not a component of, but rather a companion model to the Michigan Community…

The role of survey data in assessing teacher supply, demand, and shortage is illustrated through a description of the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) of the National Center for Education Statistics. This survey exemplifies a method that involves: (1) a sample survey; (2) representative surveys; (3) cross-sectional surveys; and (4) comprehensive…

This guide is intended to help planners and trainers assess the training needs of industrial organizations. Addressed in the individual chapters are the following topics: types of training needs (three levels of needs--organizational, occupational, individual, organizational training needs and objectives, and present and future needs); present…

The problems existing during the reorganization of the Cleveland School District into a unitary administration are presented from the perspective of the head of the Research and Analysis Department. The district had been fighting a desegregation case for 9 years and operating in a receivership with a triple bureaucracy imposed upon it (the normal…

A study examined the various laws and practices in six states regarding nonmonetary eligibility for state unemployment insurance programs and assessed the effects of these laws and policies on the states' ability to identify and reject unemployment insurance claimants who fail to meet the requirements. Eligibility for unemployment insurance in all…

Information is presented on an evaluation design for a federal program, the Podiatric Medicine Training Grant Program. The program supports the clinical training of third- and fourth-year podiatric medical students in underserved areas. Background information is provided on: the supply and distribution of health professionals and podiatrists in…

This is one of a series of reports based on an ongoing reality test of systemic evaluation for instructional decision making. This feasibility study is being carried out by the Center for the Study of Evaluation with the Laboratory in School and Community Relations at a suburban Los Angeles high school (called Site A). Viewing a school as a…