Educators and researchers often think of program design and program evaluation as separate endeavors, even intentionally creating a firewall between them. But what if designers and evaluators worked together, combining their insights to strengthen both the program and the study of it? In the work of evaluating a statewide professional learning…

Students with diabetes deserve a school nurse who can effectively manage the disease. Tensions between the school and families sometimes emerge when a child with diabetes goes to school. To resolve these tensions in Colorado, stakeholders collaborated to implement a statewide program to meet the needs of students with diabetes. Colorado school…

Since the first child care Quality Rating System (QRS) was implemented in Oklahoma 11 years ago (in 1998), 16 additional statewide systems have been launched and numerous states are piloting or developing a QRS (Zaslow, Tout, & Martinez-Beck, forthcoming). As QRS stakeholders across the nation look ahead to the next decade, it is important to take…

The Consolidated Child Care Pilot Projects were established by the Colorado General Assembly in 1997, and designed to help local communities to address critical needs for full-day, full-year child care services in partnership with welfare reform. This report describes the context for the project, details the pilot programs, and profiles the 12…

This publication presents the views expressed by the major speakers at "More Promises to Keep: Sustaining Arizona's Capacity for Welfare and Health Reform," concluding a 3-year study of welfare and health reform in the state. The publication also summarizes the discussions of three special interest sessions. The speakers' op-ed-style…

"Collaboration" is a ubiquitously championed concept and widely recognized across the public and private sectors as the foundation on which the capacity for addressing complex issues is predicated. For those invested in organizational improvement, high-quality collaboration has become no less than an imperative. However, evaluators and program…

The extent to which evaluation and auditing have converged on procedures in recent years and the extent to which they remain different are examined in the five chapters of this special issue. Different emphases, the question of collaboration with the subjects of inquiry, and issues of routinized performance are explored. (SLD)

The evaluation of Minnesota's Early Childhood Family Education program is described, and a dialog between one of the evaluators and an editor of this journal provides further insight into the evaluation process. Noteworthy in this evaluation, called exemplary by the American Evaluation Association, was highly motivated collaboration of evaluation…

In the year 2000, the Southern Regional Task Force on Child Care was formed with representatives from 16 southern states and the District of Columbia as well as appointments from the Southern Institute on Children and Families and the Southern Growth Policies Board to collaborate in developing an action plan to improve access to child care…

This report describes the development of programs for preschool children in Colorado through the cooperative efforts of public education, public and private community resources, and the Colorado Legislature. Sections of the report discuss service delivery models, program collaboration, identification and assessment of children and their families,…

An 18-member Collaborative of Michigan educational organizations and agencies was formed in October 1994. The Collaborative was committed to systemic reform that included inclusive relationships, challenging ideas, and changed practice to ensure better teaching and learning for all students. The Collaborative made the assumption that it would take…

The youth development approach has gained traction over the past twenty-plus years, across a range of youth-serving fields, including public health. While it is important for Adolescent Health Coordinators, other practitioners and policy makers focused on youth to be familiar with youth development concepts, it is critically important that they…

Smart Start is North Carolina's partnership between state government and local leaders, service providers, and families to better serve children under 6 years of age and their families. Interviews were conducted to ascertain the impressions, attitudes, and advice of 55 key participants in the 12 pioneer Smart Start counties. The interviews were…

Smart Start is North Carolina's partnership between state government and local leaders, service providers, and families to better serve children under age 6 and their families. The aim of the program is ensuring that all children enter school healthy and ready to learn. This study examined parent and business involvement in local Smart Start…

In 1995, the North Dakota Head Start-State Collaboration Project (HSSCP) was initiated to create a statewide early childhood system to increase access to comprehensive services and support for all low-income children. This report details the project's accomplishments over its initial 5-year period, emphasizing accomplishments of the final year.…