Although evaluation plays many roles in schools--support for administrative decision-making, curriculum improvement, staff development, public relations, instruction, counseling, diagnosing problems for students and staff, planning--recent studies of school district evaluation practices indicate that little overall consistency exists in the form…

The report contains descriptive results of a study of special education operations in 33 city school systems. Results were organized according to seven themes: (1) variation in local implementation in Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act; (2) magnitude of the referral, evaluation, and placement process; (3) limited…

Research literature concerning the effects of incorporating the heritage languages of minority students into the regular school curriculum either as subjects or as mediums of instruction is reviewed. Program evaluations from Canada, the United States, and Europe consistently show that the use of a minority language as a medium of instruction for…

Over 600 students were served by the Reading/Mathematics Lab Program of the Des Moines (Iowa) Independent Community School District. Students enrolled in the mathematics lab at all grade levels attained an increase in mean percentile rank from pre- to post-testing as measured by the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills administered in October 1982 and again…

The three chapters included in this paper establish a basis for organizing future implementations of Project Follow Through. Specifically, chapter 1 identifies four planning objectives for coordinating such programs. Emphasis is given to the need to focus on one fundamental, pervasive variable possibly accounting for program success: time…

Project READ, an alternative language arts program for low-performing elementary students (grades 1 through 8), has been underway for 2 years in the Portland (Oregon) Public Schools. Targeted students include those identified as learning disabled and those who have auditory and/or visual memory problems. This report describes the second-year…

In May 1987, the Legislative Audit Commission for the State of Minnesota directed the Program Evaluation Division to examine noninstructional expenditures for elementary and secondary education. This report, the first of two, focuses on two questions: (1) Has the commitment of resources in Minnesota to instructional activities declined relative to…

A series of two 2-week workshops was conducted in East Africa in 1987 by the German Foundation for International Development to assist educators in the development of instructional materials for distance and adult education. These workshops were designed to: (1) bring together writers of distance education materials to share their experiences and…

The role and activities of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities' (AASCU) Task Force on Excellence are identified. Functions of the Task Force are to assist AASCU members in: (1) evaluating and improving teacher preparation programs; (2) reviewing and evaluating recommendations contained in recent studies dealing with…

This report is the fourth and final volume presenting results of the Phase II Comparative Study of Case Review Systems, focusing on the implementation of the dispositional hearing component of the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 (P.L. 96-272). This volume presents results from questionnaires administered to 250 agency and court…

In the summer of 1979, Cuyahoga Community College (CCC) introduced the PLATO computer-based individualized instruction system as a supplemental teaching tool in remedial English and mathematics courses. As part of a comprehensive evaluation of the system, surveys of the attitudes of students, faculty, and administrators towards PLATO were…

The purpose of secondary vocational education has traditionally been occupational preparation, with the primary activity for achieving that purpose being occupationally specific skill training. Today, however, a significant amount of effort is also directed toward outcomes that prepare an individual for work rather than for a specific job or…

In 1981, a 5-year follow-up study was conducted to ascertain the current employment and educational activities of the 1976 graduates of Reading Area Community College (RACC) and to obtain their evaluation of the programs and services of the college. Questionnaires were mailed to all 105 students who obtained their degree in June 1976, and…

This volume summarizes the results of the evaluation of the Austin (Texas) Independent School District 1981-82 State Compensatory Education Program. This technical report is organized into eight appendixes. Each appendix reports the information collected by a specific measure. Each appendix consists of (1) an instrument description, (2) purpose of…

In 1982, a follow-up study was conducted of Santa Ana College (SAC) graduates who had transferred to and were currently attending four neighboring four-year colleges: California State University, Fullerton; California State University, Long Beach; California Polytechnic University; and the University of California, Irvine. Surveys were mailed to…