Background: The states of Maine and Pennsylvania support 1:1 laptop programs in which every student is provided with a personal computer. Many other states, districts, and schools also have full or pilot 1:1 laptop programs. Purpose: As 1:1 laptop programs grow in number and size, more information is needed about the impacts on teaching, learning,…

This chapter describes how an action research framework facilitates using evaluation and assessment results to improve programs and demonstrate institutional effectiveness. (Contains 1 table.)

Accreditation, budget, and accountability pressures at the institution and program levels lead to the involvement of faculty in assessment-based activities. Increasingly, programs are being expected to document student learning beyond traditional course grades. The use of outcomes as a tool to improve learning relies heavily on the active…

As the college-age Latino population continues to increase throughout the nation, meeting the country's future human capital and workforce needs make it imperative to improve outcomes for Latino students today. As public attention is focused on existing achievement gaps, educators and policymakers are seeking ways to improve educational outcomes…

This evaluation handbook is the third in a series of three handbooks developed for individuals, school districts, and agencies interested in implementing career education programs. It is a user's manual with easy-to-follow directions for the implementation of specific evaluation activities. The handbook is divided into the following nine sections:…

A prototype computer-assisted teaching training system (CATTS) was developed to help train special education personnel. CATTS is a comprehensive system which produces systematic observation, real-time analysis, storage, and feedback of specific observation coding data relevant to special education classroom teacher-pupil interactions. An…

This guide draws from numerous evaluation models to provide a frame of reference in the development and execution of an evaluation plan for pilot programs. Emphasis is on the development of an evaluation design; construction of instruments or the analysis and interpretation of results is not discussed. A selected bibliography for further in-depth…

This Digest discusses computer assisted advisory practices currently in use in community colleges, outlining the types of data collected and how they are used, including the use of tracking to plan interventions for at-risk students. Enhanced computer technology has improved the effectiveness of academic advising by enabling more thorough and…

This book helps educators produce assessments of their schools' drug and violence prevention programs. It contains over 30 separate resources that can be adapted to specific evaluations (e.g., sample youth and adult participant feedback sheets, sample classroom observation sheets and teacher implementation logs, sample en-route participant…

Apart from the annual returns to the Ministry of Education of Reading Recovery (RR) data (and to a lesser extent, the four-yearly National Education Monitoring Project cycle data), there is currently no national data sets of reading achievement information for New Zealand primary school children. This article uses the national RR data for 2002 as…

The purpose of this study was to monitor the development of teacher personal attribute and school environmental factors at an urban intermediate (years 7 and 8) school in New Zealand as a result of an extended science professional development intervention project. Over a 2-year period, a validated, comprehensive science curriculum delivery…

Despite the widespread attention given to education reform, no substantial knowledge base has existed for identifying and implementing effective reforms for at-risk student populations. This document, the third of three volumes, describes the research design for a study that identified the essential mechanics of effective reforms for students at…

To determine the effectiveness of special education and transition planning for students with disabilities in Texas, a 6-year study was conducted between 1990 and 1996. Data for the first 5 years were collected, analyzed, and reported by the Texas Education Agency, but the Region XI Education Service Center was designated to complete the sixth…

This final report reviews and evaluates the work completed by the Early Childhood and Parenting Research Program between June 1, 1978 and November 30, 1979. The first project described is the Home Oriented Preschool Education (HOPE) Follow-Up Study. The HOPE Follow-Up Study was designed to examine the effects of HOPE treatments on children and…

A study was conducted to refine and coordinate occupational analysis, job performance aids, and elements of the instructional systems development process for task specific Air Force maintenance training. Techniques for task identification and analysis (TI & A) and data gathering techniques for occupational analysis were related. While TI &…