Nine papers comprise the proceedings of a 1988 North Carolina symposium on early childhood education. The first paper, "Preschool Assessment" (Nancy Johnson-Martin), focuses on norm-referenced psychological assessment to determine eligibility and programming needs. "Appropriate Use and Interpretation of Assessments of Young…

Drawing from the experiences of Lansing Community College (LCC), this paper offers a rationale and model for measuring instructional quality. Section I offers background on LCC's efforts to assess the quality of its courses and curricula, and to introduce such quality assurance procedures as computer-based course syllabi, department and program…

This handbook is intended to assist Ohio educators in identifying students for placement in classes for individuals with severe behavior handicaps. The following topics are discussed: (1) definition of severe behavior handicapped, with examples and discussion of five characteristics and three qualifiers; (2) alternatives to referral, with examples…

This document contains a report of the Guidance and Counselling Services Review, a project undertaken to evaluate classroom guidance, personal counseling, and career development services in the Edmonton public schools. It contains descriptions of guidance and counseling activities in Edmonton schools, Alberta Education initiatives, and the design…

The use of stepwise discriminant analysis as a means to select entering students who would benefit from a special program for the disadvantaged was studied. In fall 1984, 278 full-time black students were admitted as first-time students to a large urban university. Of the total, 200 entered a special program for the disadvantaged and 78 entered…

A study was conducted to review the programs provided for gifted children by the North York, Ontario, Board of Education. The current report is an interim progress report encompassing the first phase of the study. Data collection for this phase focused on parent and teacher perceptions, and student self concepts. A questionnaire was used to study…

One in a series of issue papers commissioned by the Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE), this document presents a comparison of contemporary evaluation approaches for special education programs. The first section describes the two approaches to be compared: (1) traditional scientific inquiry which emphasizes quantitative methods;…

This essay focuses on a key change that the author has experienced in the practice of program evaluation research over the past 20 years: the accommodation of the logic of science and the psychology of politics. This change has substantially altered the role of the evaluator, the evaluator's relationship with clients, the design of an evaluation…

In 1985, an ad hoc committee was appointed to conduct a comprehensive examination of the educational effectiveness of the Community College of Philadelphia (CCP). The principles governing the assessment emphasized students' educational goals; cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes; differences among subgroups within the student population;…

The experience of Boston University's school of education in providing development assistance through collaborative faculty linkages to Cairo University, Egypt is discussed. The assistance has taken three forms: (1) short-term, postdoctoral fellowships at Boston University for 13 Cairo University faculty in the areas of program planning, teaching…

Camping Out is an outdoor education program designed to meet the needs of hearing-impaired, mentally retarded children. The program aims to help children overcome language deficits and restrictions of their limited environments while learning recreation skills which can enhance their motor, cognitive, and affective skills. The program covers seven…

The guide describes how committee hearings can be used in an educational as well as a political context. A committee hearing approach can be used in education (1) when a committee suited to carry out the evaluation task already exists; (2) when a written report is likely to be ignored or to have minimal effect; (3) when the decision-maker or…

Because critical thinking has become a popular topic among speech communication educators in recent years, this paper reviews the literature on teaching critical thinking skills and discusses its relevance for speech communication instruction. First, the paper briefly sketches the history of the critical thinking movement and describes the…

The evaluation team of the Lincoln Public Schools (Nebraska) used the multi-attribution utility technology (MAUT) approach to prioritize potential evaluation projects. The priorities were used to allocate resources to the district's most important projects, and to eliminate or scale down less important projects. The problem was caused initially…

This report is designed to provide numerical data about student performance on the curriculum of the Boston (Massachusetts) Public Schools (BPS) as measured by curriculum referenced tests (CRTs). BPS Department of Educational Testing analyzed data from the 1986 CRT final exams in: reading and language arts (grades K-8), high school English (six…