A method called multi-attribute utility analysis (MAUA) provides a decision-making framework that facilitates comparative analysis of multiple real-world decision alternatives with unique complex attributes. Utility analysis as a measure of effectiveness has been minimally used by educational researchers to date, despite clear relevance in complex…

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' (CMS) Parent University is an innovative, collaborative initiative designed to engage parents in their children's education. Working with community partners, Parent University offers unique courses and workshops such as Parenting Awareness, Helping Your Child Learn in the 21st Century, Health and Wellness, and…

Program evaluation is recognized as an essential skill set for practitioners in service-related fields, such as education, nonprofit management, social work, and public health. Recently, the need for a public workforce trained in evaluation has increased and is driven primarily by our nation's emphasis on accountability during a time when…

Increasingly across the United States, institutions of higher education (IHE) are offering a wide array of postsecondary educational (PSE) opportunities for students with intellectual disabilities (ID). As more students with ID aspire to college, it is incumbent upon IHEs to engage in rigorous program evaluation to assess student outcomes and…

This article provides the background and describes the processes involved in establishing a national approach to benchmarking the way universities engage with their local and regional communities in Australia. Local and regional community engagement is a rapidly expanding activity in Australian public universities and is increasingly being seen as…

This report describes a trial of an evaluation plan for community school programs that was based on the Goal Attainment Scaling system developed by Kiresuk and Sherman. The author briefly discusses the goal attainment scaling process and then examines the advantages and disadvantages of that approach for evaluating community school programs. The…

A brief history of business/education partnership development (BEPD), using the development of the Boston Compact in 1975 as an illustrative case study, highlights several points: partnerships embrace diverse territory and goals; a partnership is a process, not an event; a partnership is a relationship between institutions and people within those…

This report describes and evaluates the community school program in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District (MDUSD) during the period of September, 1978 through December, 1979. In addition to documenting two community schools funded by a federal grant, the report also describes three other community school programs in MDUSD funded by adult…

ESEA Title I projects related to school-community relations and unique staffing patterns, carried out in Philadelphia during 1971-1972, are evaluated in this volume. The six projects in this cluster are: School-Community Coordinator Services; New Staffing Patterns in Educational Improvement Program Schools; Kindergarten Aides and Supervisors;…

AEL's contract with the U.S. Department of Education includes work partnering with faith-based organizations in Kanawha County, West Virginia, to (1) build their capacity to better serve at-risk youth and (2) document what best helps such organizations to successfully impact youth and their families. One of the first faith-based organizations with…

This chapter describes the history and demise of the service-learning component of a teacher education program. Beginning in 1968, service learning was a self-directed, community-based program within the student-teaching practicum at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. Students were responsible for matching their learning needs with placement…

An eight-part descriptive analysis is presented of the 18 projects funded through OERI's Educational Partnerships Program (EPP) in September of 1990. The EPP supports alliances between public schools and/or higher education and the private sector to encourage excellence in education. The 18 projects include: Anchorage Vocational Academic Institute…

This is a report of an evaluation of the South Bronx Multi-Purpose Supplementary Educational Center (SOMPSEC). The primary objectives of SOMPSEC, funded under Title III, Elementary and Secondary Education Act were: (1) to enhance the self-image of minority-group students, (2) to encourage development of their artistic talent, and (3) to increase…

This paper reviews selected literature on education/business partnerships (EBPs), highlighting the status of partnership evaluations and current methodologies. Research by S. Otterbourg and D. Adams (1989), which surveyed about 24 EBPs to ascertain planning, implementation, and evaluation priorities, showed that only 25% of the programs used…

THIS REPORT IS AN EVALUATION OF A SCHOOL-COMMUNITY PROJECT ESTABLISHED IN 1953 (1) TO GUIDE THE SPANISH-NAMED POPULATION IN DENVER IN DEVELOPING SELF-HELP AND COMMUNAL ORGANIZATIONS AND TO SERVE AS A CONSULTANT TO CITY AND SCHOOL PERSONNEL IN PROMOTING INTERCULTURAL UNDERSTANDING AND COOPERATION. DATA WERE GATHERED BY OPINIONNAIRES,…