The study uses Foucault's framework of governmentality to understand the impact of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) on teachers' writing instruction and attitudes toward writing in high- and low-income schools. Using interviews and observations of 18 teachers, the study identified four themes: emphasis on testing, curricular effects, awareness of…

Australia wide, all school systems are in the process of providing teachers with computers and there is an expectation that new teachers will possess the expertise to use them in their teaching. In addition to using computers for basic word processing and data manipulation, early-career science teachers need to be able to use a range of…

An entrance and exit interview procedure designed to evaluate student progress in an intensive English program (IEP) is discussed. The program offers six terms of 7 weeks each per year. Students are interviewed within the first 10 days after classes have started, always by the same individual. Both personal and placement information are gathered,…

Family needs assessment is mandated within Head Start programs. Cen-Clear Child Services, Inc., a Head Start program in Pennsylvania, set out to evaluate and revise its approach to information-gathering and to involve families in the planning process using plans based on family strengths and designed to meet family goals. Based on a model designed…

New supervisors often come to management positions with experience and expertise in their specialty, but with little or no training in how to supervise. Aimed at the new library supervisor, this publication addresses basic supervisory skills and provides practical information needed by supervisors. As library organizations become more complex,…

This book focuses on what it feels like and what it means to spend substantial portions of one's everyday life in the chat rooms, support groups, and virtual communities of cyberspace. Interviewing heavy users online, and becoming one herself, the author creates and ethnographic site for inquiring into the meanings of life online, a place where…

A literature review examined major trends in organizations and training and the ways in which evaluation may help drive training impact. In addition, 3 case studies and 18 interviews were conducted in the United States to study evaluation methods. Recommendations about the use of evaluation for training impact were then formulated, and four Dutch…

This article describes a qualitative research approach (in-depth phenomenological interviewing) and illustrates, through the example of an actual study, its potential for helping institutions of higher education understand their students. It argues that progress in understanding college student outcomes, such as persistence, has been retarded by…

This study, undertaken in the summer of 1986, was to develop a comprehensive evaluation and needs assessment for the Alabama Judicial College. Qualitative research techniques (participant observation and in-depth interviewing) were applied to collect the necessary data. Judicial employees were observed in courtroom, office, training and social…

The public views teacher evaluation as a major problem in the school system today. State legislatures, aware of the concern, want to mandate more effective evaluation. Common methods for evaluating teachers have been ineffective, such as measurement tests of teacher characteristics, student achievement test scores, and rating of teachers'…

This study assessed the second year of a 5-year project--the Carroll Instructional Television Consortium--which uses two-way interactive cable television (both audio and video) as an alternative method of delivering courses in four small rural high schools in Illinois. Specific evaluation questions investigated the instructional effectiveness of…

Methods that have been employed in McGill University's (Montreal, Quebec) program of research into the nature of learning are described. The methods illustrate four phases of inquiry: conceptualization or model-building; data gathering techniques; data representation; and data analysis. For the university's learning task project, the development…

Two evaluation projects conducted for the Minnesota Agricultural Extension Service are examined from a user-focused perspective: (1) a needs assessment of large scale commercial farmers for program development by the Office of Special Programs; and (2) a review of the extension programs in Nicollet County. Each incorporated the focus group method…

In connection with the formative evaluation of the Developing Mathematical Processes (DMP) curriculum, interviews were conducted with teachers in grades 1-3 at the beginning of the school year and after concluding each of the 10 topics on addition and subtraction. The topics had been especially prepared for a classroom observational study. The…

A procedure for selecting peer tutors has been developed at the University of Texas at El Paso. Applicants who meet the required qualifications which include being of sophomore standing or above and maintaining at least a "B" average--are interviewed by staff members who examine applicants' grade transcripts and note a variety of factors related…