This paper details Michael Lewis and Mark Starr's model of early child development known as the salient responses of the human organism. The model is described as a representation of the actions taken by humans in their qualitative attempts to move to more progressive states of development through interactions with the environment. The salient…

The heightened interest in college program review is traced to a widespread interest in improving educational quality and the need to respond creatively to financial constraints and external expectations for accountability. Current program reviews have also been designed to aid in decision making about resource reallocation and program…

This report is an attempt to conceptualize a comprehensive framework for evaluating vocational education quality. It is intended to inform policymakers of the breadth of the elements of quality and to suggest an integrated framework for assessing quality to vocational education evaluation theoreticians. Chapter 1 offers preliminary considerations.…

Egon G. Guba and Yvonna S. Lincoln were among the first to develop a set of extensive criteria for establishing naturalistic inquiry as a disciplined research methodology. The naturalistic paradigm--also called post-positivist, ethnographic, phenomenological, and qualitative--has gained acceptance as a legitimate alternative to the previously…

Both evaluators and storytellers pull together the events they hear and see; they create unified, coherent entities out of the parts they gather. This guide considers two levels at which the understanding of the nature and methods of narrative writing, or storytelling, can be of use to the evaluator. The highest level is to use the notion of…

This report describes a model which was implemented in Broward County, Florida for the provision of psychological services in non-public schools. The major goals of the model are identified: (1) to increase teachers' awareness of types of academic/behavioral difficulties in need of assessment; (2) to increase parents' awareness of available…

This up-to-date and comprehensive compendium reflects the state of professional understanding, research, and experience in the field of intervention in child development. The book is intended to be of use to pediatricians, psychiatrists, neurologists, child psychologists, social workers, nurses, occupational therapists, early childhood educators,…

The paper examined empirical evidence (published through 1986) concerning the effectiveness of the Adaptive Learning Environments Model (ALEM), a multifaceted program designed to integrate handicapped pupils and remedial and compensatory education students in general education. Evaluation of three evaluative studies by the program's originators…

This handbook presents the policies and procedures of the performance evaluation system for the State Education Grant (SEG). (The SEG is that 8 percent of Title II-A of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) designated for administration by the state education agency.) Chapter I contains the general requirements of the SEG performance evaluation…

Preschoolers in a model preschool designed to develop children's planning and problem-solving abilities were compared to children in three comparison preschools on measures assessing children's ability to solve problems and plan. Children were also compared on other measures of cognitive ability, including measures of general cognitive…

This paper presents the ARCS model, which is a research-based systematic design model that interfaces with typical instructional design and development models to improve the motivational appeal of instructional materials, of instructor behavior, and of the way in which lessons (or modules) and courses are designed. The description of the model,…

Hypothesis generation and testing is outlined as an additional domain for program evaluators. Program evaluation involves a thorough analysis of the processes that contribute to change (or a lack of change) among program recipients. This process of change is analyzed in two ways: (1) treating programs as naturally occurring field studies; and (2)…

This document contains an executive summary of a study designed to: determine the status of early intervention (birth-to-3) programs for handicapped children in Illinois, to make recommendations for future planning, and develop training modules focused on the findings. It discusses the study's rationale, method, and design; estimates incidence…

"Illuminative evaluation," as defined by Parlett and Hamilton, "is not a standard methodological package but a general strategy. It aims to be both adaptable and eclectic. The choice of research tactics follows not from research doctrine, but from decisions in each case as to the best available techniques; the problem defines the…

A model for describing and assessing the effectiveness of student affairs programs is outlined in this paper as it was presented to the California Community College Student Affairs Association. First, the goals of student affairs programs (i.e., enrichment, involvement, and retention) and the impact of budget constraints on the achievement of…