A re-analysis of evaluation data concerning the Emergency School Aid Act shows that findings of the original evaluators are open to multiple interpretations. (JKS)

The financial aspects of educational programs are discussed in this commentary on the evaluation of the Emergency School Aid Act. Budget and expenditure data must be examined closely when evaluating educational programs. (JKS)

The story of the national evaluation of the Follow Through program mirrors the difficulties in trying to evaluate a complex social program that changed its community service orientation to a strategy of planned variation of early childhood programs. (Author/MLF)

Offers a critique of the final report of the Head Start Evaluation, Synthesis, and Utilization Project. Points raised include the following: studies considered by the report are not based on a representative sample of Head Start sites; findings are based on studies of both low and high quality; and evaluations do not offer the only rationale for…

Planned Variation was deisgned as a three-year program to assess the implementation of prominent preschool curricula in Head Start and the immediate effects of the programs. Sites used were those in which the sponsor already had a Follow Through program; the research project lacked the necessary control over site characteristics. Consultants…

Abt Associates, the firm responsible for the primary analysis of the Follow Through experiment, summarize the findings. Their clearest finding indicates that local circumstances, attitudes, and activities unmeasured by evaluation have much more to do with the effectiveness of Follow Through models, without exception, than do their theoretical…

Interpretations point up the fact that research-oriented evaluation, aiming at estimation of program effects on specific test outcome measures, is capable of illuminating only part of the value of a complex social program like Follow Through. (Author/MLF)

The effects of using different data analysis methods on estimates of treatment effects of educational programs were investigated. Various regression models, such as those recommended for Title I program evaluations, were studied. The first effect studied was the amount of bias that might be expected to occur in the various settings. Results…

Evaluation of Head Start has been based on four sources of information: (1) census surveys of children and families served and programs offered, (2) special research, projects on child development and experimental programs, (3) a longitudinal study of the development of low income children, and (4) a series of national evaluation studies.…

Clarifies a general approach to understanding teaching effectiveness research, outlines the requirements of the kind of research that is believed likely to result in verified generalizations about the primary dimensions along which effective and ineffective teachers vary, and provides an example of the kind of research it is believed is needed.…

Problems encountered in large-scale educational evaluations are discussed using the evaluation of the Emergency School Aid Act as an example. This extensive article focuses primarily on methodological issues. (JKS)

Identified are four major fallacies in Douglas Fuchs and Lynn Fuchs' critique of the Adaptive Learning Environments Model (ALEM) and the General Education Initiative (GEI): erroneous interpretations of the GEI, segregationism in the Fuchs' point of view, the research base of the ALEM, and readiness for the GEI. (JDD)

This paper refutes the arguments of Margaret Wang and Herbert Walberg in their support of the Adaptive Learning Environments Model (ALEM) and the General Education Initiative. It focuses on the small number of ALEM implementations and replications, weaknesses of the research and evaluations supporting ALEM, and other specific criticisms. (JDD)

This paper reviews the following studies on the cost-effectiveness of the Chapter 1 compensatory education program: (1) Sustaining Effects Study; (2) Tallmadge Study; (3) the Kiesling Study for Rand; (4) Instructional Dimensions Study; (5) Response to Educational Needs Project Cost-Effectiveness Study; (6) Educational Testing Service/Ragosta…