Practices in needs assessment are reviewed since 1981, the year the federal government changed the role it plays in promoting needs assessment in the public sector. The review is based on reports published to 1993 and indicates that needs assessment is flourishing in a variety of settings. (SLD)

Two gifted program evaluations found an absence of data on student learning, fragmentation of service models across the K-12 expanse, and a lack of systemic staff-development strategies and parent involvement. Insufficient resource bases and complex leadership demands that required movement on multiple fronts simultaneously created barriers to…

This commentary on a previous article that demonstrates three ways of analyzing qualitative interview data (content, cultural models, and narrative analyses), discusses the need for greater articulation of the complexities of interpretation and a greater emphasis on verification procedures in early intervention qualitative research. (CR)

Academic achievement and high test scores are not the only indicators of a successful school. A good school is also a safe school. Unfortunately, every year in the United States, approximately 3.7 million students suffer an injury at school severe enough to require medical attention or to limit activity. Most of the injuries are preventable. Data…

This document summarizes the responses from members of the public throughout the 50 states, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico to a September 1994 notice in the Federal Register in which the Secretary of Education invited public comments regarding reauthorization of programs under the Perkins Act, Adult Education Act, and National Literacy Act…

The document is the final in a series of four competency-based modules produced for use with inservice teacher education programs in consumer education. The main objective of the program is to assist curriculum developers and elementary and secondary classroom teachers as they plan, develop, implement, and evaluate a multidisciplinary consumer…

The evaluation examined issues related to: (1) Rationale and Relevance; (2) Implementation; and (3) Success. In addition, the interim evaluation was intended to: (1) Determine whether sufficient data was being collected to inform the summative evaluation and identify opportunities for improvement to fill any potential gaps; (2) Assess whether the…

This report highlights 11 family support programs that are serving one of the fastest growing groups in the United States--the Latino population. The programs described in this report differ from each other in terms of their structures and the types of families and communities served. They represent a range of geographic areas and vary in terms of…

The 1992-93 analysis of the Kansas Chapter 1 evaluation results is described. In the 1992-93 school year, 100 percent (304) of Kansas districts participated in the Chapter 1 program. Approximately 7 percent of the student population participated in Chapter 1 programs, and 82 percent were in grades 1 through 6. A majority of these students were…

One of the new measures developed as part of the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) program is described. The ACOT project examines the impact of access to educational technology on the kindergarten through grade 12 classroom environments. The new measure is a technology-based classroom observation instrument for documenting the impact of…

Philadelphia's school reform initiative, Children Achieving" was evaluated. The focus in this report is on decentralization, exploring how Children Achieving is strengthening schools' capacity to make and carry out informed decisions that lead to schoolwide standards, how the new structures are working at various levels of the system, and how…

The DELTA program of the Austin Independent School District (AISD) (Texas) is an open-entry, open-exit competency-based diploma program in 10 high schools that is designed to help recover former dropouts and to prevent students who are at risk from dropping out. Instruction in the program is individualized and self-paced, but goals for the DELTA…

This paper discusses the results of a randomly selected standing poll panel implemented at Saint Mary's College at Notre Dame, Indiana, called PRISM (Prompt Response to Improve Saint Mary's). PRISM is designed to quickly ascertain the attitudes and opinions of a panel of 120 college students. Sample topics of PRISM surveys have included campus…

A context in which existing items may provide a convenient source of questions for questionnaires was explored through a case study making use of existing comparison groups. Two programs at Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), the Science and Engineering Research Semester (SERS) and the Laboratory Graduate Research Participation (Lab Grad)…

This report evaluates the Migrant Student Record Transfer System (MSRTS), a national computer system of records on migrant children, that was voluntarily created in 1969 by state directors of the Migrant Education Program (MEP). As the Federal Government instituted policy changes, MSRTS became the primary source of data for federal and state…