The purpose of this publication on agency training evaluation practices is to share approaches used by federal agencies to assess needs and measure training effectiveness. Emphasis is placed on the process of evaluation. Names of the agencies and highlights of the examples used by each follow: (1) Plant Protection and Quarantine (Department of…

The paper considers the concept of needs assessment in terms of the activities of TADS (Technical Assistance Development System), a project to provide support services to model demonstration projects and state education agency grantees of the Handicapped Children's Early Education Program. Section 1 defines needs assessment, describes approaches…

This report summarizes the activities of the first year of a 2-year Lilly Endowment, Inc. sponsored project, which funded nine Indiana school corporations to select and field test current microcomputer software, and presents 53 critical software evaluations based on information gathered from teachers and students. Information provided by the…

The purpose of this guide is to help school administrators, faculty, or other involved persons to measure a school's climate. Factors that create the climate, or total ambience of a school, include relationships of all within the school community, feelings and opinions about personal development and learning goals, and feelings and attitudes about…

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…

This is a manual designed to help program subcommittees conduct the evidence collection phase of their self-studies. The program philosophy and objectives should be decided upon by the subcommittee. The profile should continue gathering information which was initially gathered for a district database. These two documents will focus on the…

An approach for merging quantitative-qualitative data in order to enlarge the evaluators' perspective and provide an enriched data base for evaluating elusive evaluation problems in school settings is described. Mini-case studies were conducted over a period of three years in 11 urban schools to examine the impact of an arts-in-the-schools program…

The continuous flow monitoring system is designed to provide data on migrant education at the time it is being created to the person who most needs that information. The basic assumption underlying this system is that the operation to be monitored is continuous or cyclic with interrelated events known in advance or predictable. By identifying…

The authors consider reasons for increased emphasis on measuring pupil progress in special education, the use made of pupil progress data, the desirable qualities of measurement systems, and some problems associated with current commercially available data systems. Techniques for measurement are discussed, based on the requirements of P.L. 94-142,…

A DESCRIPTION IS GIVEN OF ITEM SAMPLING, OR "PSYCHOMETRIC-STATISTICAL INFERENCE," AN APPROACH TO GATHERING AND USING EDUCATIONAL DATA THAT ALLOWS STATISTICAL INFERENCES TO BE MADE SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH PSYCHOMETRIC INFERENCES. THIS IS A PROCEDURE IN WHICH BOTH PEOPLE AND ITEMS ARE SAMPLED AND THE DATA FROM A SAMPLE OF PEOPLE TAKING A SAMPLE OF ITEMS…

APPRAISALS OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY ACT PROGRAMS SHOULD BE MADE IN TERMS OF (1) A PROGRAM'S STATED PURPOSES, (2) A BEHAVIORIAL DEFINITION OF PROGRAM OBJECTIVES, (3) THE SITUATIONS AND EXPERIENCES THROUGH WHICH THE OBJECTIVES ARE TO BE ACHIEVED, (4) DATA COLLECTED BY APPROPRIATE INSTRUMENTS TO MEASURE THE ACHIEVEMENT OF OBJECTIVES, AND (5) DATA…

An evaluation of alternative methods--including three types of questionnaires and face-to-face interviews--of obtaining post training feedback from naval personnel is described. Using a sample of recent radio technician trainees, various approaches to data collection were employed. It was found that questionnaires provide the most cost-effective…

Described is the diagnostic assessment system for professional supervisory competencies developed by the Special Education Supervisor Training Project at the University of Texas at Austin. An introductory section reviews such aspects as the competency-guided training model and the rationale for self-assessment. Five instruments are reviewed, and…

An exploratory investigation of police promotional examinations was made in an attempt to improve the testing procedures that were in use. A primary goal of the study was to identify a pool of performances (tasks, behaviors) of police sergeants, lieutenants, and captains that might serve as referrents for job-related test items for promotional…

The report describes a series of empirical evaluations of the work environment and its relation to the disadvantaged worker. Data were collected on 530 subjects in five different industries at both the supervisory and non-supervisory level, using a total of eight instruments, including measures of perceived vocational opportunity, self-concept,…