This conference proceedings presents 17 papers which examine quality assurance and evaluation in higher education, including methodologies, procedures, and ideas from various nations. The papers include: (1) "Quality Assurance in Higher Education" (Malcolm Frazer); (2) "Academic Standards Panels in Australia" (Kwong Lee Dow);…

The effectiveness of an Education Consolidation Improvement Act Chapter 1 program was studied in a large urban school district. A common problem in evaluating remedial programs is that pretest/posttest achievement gains often indicate the effects of the entire curriculum, rather than those specific to the remedial class. In this district, over…

Reviews the research on the effectiveness of five thinking skills training programs: Instrumental Enrichment, Philosophy for Children, Structure-of-Intellect (SOI), Problem Solving and Comprehension: A Short Course in Analytical Reasoning, and Odyssey. Compares and contrasts the content of each program and describes the relative lack of adequate…

Starting Early Starting Smart (SESS) is a knowledge development initiative designed to: (1) create and test a new model for providing mental health and substance abuse prevention and treatment for young children (birth to 7 years) and their families; and (2) inform practitioners and policymakers of successful interventions and promising practices…

Six articles provide an overview of the multiple approaches to evaluating the problems of homelessness and introduce the challenges of evaluating interventions for the homeless. The first part focuses on research about homelessness, and the second part describes major demonstration programs and their evaluations. (SLD)

Sixteen articles describe the status of program evaluation in the federal government by showing how evaluation is organized in the government. A review of evaluation in the legislative and executive branches is followed by a review of the major organizations producing evaluation work. (SLD)

Remedial or developmental courses are the most common policy instruments used to assist underprepared postsecondary students who are not ready for college-level coursework. However, despite its important role in higher education and its substantial costs, there is little rigorous evidence on the effectiveness of college remediation on the outcomes…

The National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) is addressing problems of evaluation of family literacy programs through portfolio assessment. Beginning in fall 1991, 15 programs began using portfolios to document parent-child interactions. This guide provides a description of the introduction of portfolio assessment into these programs and…

The problems and accomplishments of a program to evaluate the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program at Walsh College in Canton (Ohio) are described. The college-wide writing program began in 1987 with training workshops for faculty. Stage 1 of the program ended in 1988 with a summative evaluation and the development of a handbook to be used…

Although methodological integrity is not the sole determinant of the value of a program evaluation, decision-makers do have a right, at a minimum, to be able to expect competent work from evaluators. This paper explores five areas where evaluators might improve methodological practices. First, evaluation reports should reflect the limited…

Noting the paucity of information on the effectiveness of the growing numbers of programs promoting responsible fatherhood, this report examines the evaluability of responsible fatherhood programs. The report provides policymakers with an evaluation design for use with a variety of responsible fatherhood programs, and gives direction to…

Responds to Hiebert's 1994 article in Educational Researcher in which she criticized Reading Recovery (RR) advocates for failing to base RR's success on an adequate cost-benefit analysis. The authors suggest reliance on the informal judgements of local administrators rather than using administratively difficult, large-scale, cost-benefit analyses…

Some of the conceptual, methodological, and logistical impediments to sound evaluations of jail-based drug-treatment programs are described. The focus is on a program in a large urban jurisdiction that illustrates difficulty in tracking clients and coordinating agency responses. Some suggestions are offered to help future researchers. (SLD)

Implementation of schoolwide projects in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) illustrates some of the conceptual problems associated with the Hawkins Stafford accountability amendments to the Chapter 1 supplementary education program. Unintended negative consequences are discussed, and recommendations are made to overcome these problems, including the…

Using a system that monitors just the process of education does not guarantee positive student outcomes. What education needs is a consistent set of accountability procedures for all students. As educators take steps toward a new and inclusive accountability system, they need to look at: (1) possible alternative approaches to accountability; (2)…