The evaluation of intervention effects is an important objective of educational research. One way to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention is to conduct an experiment that assigns individuals to control and treatment groups. In the context of pretest/posttest designed studies, this is referred to as a control-group pretest/posttest design.…

In studying the effectiveness of different instructional programs, a criterion measure can favor one of the programs because there is greater overlap between the content covered on the test and in that program. This overlap can be measured using teacher estimates or teacher estimates combined with curriculum analysis. (Author/BW)

In assessing the validity of a norm-referenced model used in evaluating large-scale federal educational programs for disadvantaged children, gain estimates were shown as approximately equal with randomized control group model estimates compared by retrospective analyses of two databases. (Author/CM)

Reviews CIRCUS, a comprehensive battery of assessment devices designed for use in nursey schools and kindergartens to diagnose the instructional needs of individual children and evaluate educational programs. (EVH)

The "Program Evaluation Standards" supplies a useful framework for generating questions to raise about any evaluation plan or evaluation report to assess its pros and cons. It is a valuable "how-to" for graduate students and professionals. This second edition incorporates changes in the field in the last decade. (SLD)

Article is concerned with a model for school system evaluation. The usefulness of the indices from this model depend on their stability, and this study presents evidence related to their stability when pupils and factors related to time are considered as sources of error. (Author/RK)

Estimates of reading ability for second through fourth grade Title I pupils were obtained through grade-level and out-of-level testing. Results show that the method of testing affects the students' scores, the identification of pupils needing remedial reading instruction, and evaluation of the reading program. (JKS)

Although the pass-fail option proved to be popular with students, the faculty sample felt that it was being abused, and had somewhat negative attitudes toward the system. (AG)

Gains of students in compensatory education programs are contrasted using fall-to-spring gains as opposed to fall-to-fall gains. Results indicate substantial loss for compensatory education students over the summer. Using fall-to-fall scores is recommended. (JKS)

Three methods are presented for interpolating fall norms from data derived for tests administered in spring. One method used the midpoint between two spring administrations, the second adjusted for date of fall testing, while the third method used experimental data that showed slower growth rates during the summer months. (CTM)

This study estimated a component of within-school variance which has been overlooked in policy research studies and program evaluations performed to date: the effect on pupil performance of different teachers within a single school or program. Results indicated that teacher effects accounted for 30 to 40 percent of within-school variance. (Author/…

DETECT, the acronym for Dimensionality Evaluation To Enumerate Contributing Traits, is an innovative and relatively new nonparametric dimensionality assessment procedure used to identify mutually exclusive, dimensionally homogeneous clusters of items using a genetic algorithm ( Zhang & Stout, 1999). Because the clusters of items are mutually…

Evidence from test results of 3,604 sixth and seventh graders is provided for the generalizability and validity of the Quantitative Understanding: Amplifying Student Achievement and Reasoning (QUASAR) Cognitive Assessment Instrument, which is designed to measure program outcomes and growth in mathematics. (SLD)