Three optometric educators provide separate perspectives on how and why to increase the amount of clinical experience in the optometry program, addressing such issues as how many patient encounters are enough to provide adequate training, salient factors in clinical experience outside patient encounter numbers (facilities and equipment, preceptor,…

Presents survey results that reveal that most political science departments have clearly defined systems of summative teaching evaluation. These systems, however, lack diversity. Most rely solely on student assessment and use this primarily to identify potential problems. Recommends adopting more flexible and constructive approaches. (MJP)

Reviews the first year of a teacher education restructuring project at Roosevelt University in Chicago (Illinois). Major goals include developing relationships with Chicago schools to create professional development school models for field experiences and support for beginning teachers and examining and restructuring the university's education,…

Contemporary education reform efforts are moving the focus of educational evaluation from professional relations to increasing consideration of managerial expectations in an increasingly politicized environment. Means of restoring an equilibrium between conventional evaluation norms/procedures and evolving expectations of the political system…

Suggests new directions in parent involvement emerging in school districts across the country, identifying and analyzing 18 recently developed programs or reforms emphasizing effective parental involvement. Ten programs help parents support children's development, and eight define parent involvement as a central focus of school improvement or…

Community colleges need to adopt a broad conceptual definition of a continuing student in the design and evaluation of their retention strategies, recognizing nondegree goals as legitimate educational achievements and intermittent but persistent attendance as a valid method of pursuing educational goals. (MSE)

It is argued that teacher assessment should be extended to include students' learning gains. The conditions that must be met for such an assessment system to be implemented are described, and some alternative strategies for extending the focus of teacher evaluation and program evaluation to include student learning are discussed. (SLD)

The Chicago (Illinois) public school system has been undergoing a major restructuring that has shifted responsibility for running the schools to local school councils. The nine articles of this issue bring together opinions and research of a diverse group of authors with multiple perspectives on the effort. (SLD)

A mail survey completed by 62 administrators in colleges of education in Ohio provides descriptive and correlational results about the nature of utilization of needs assessment. A moderately high multiple correlation is found for attitude and involvement, but other independent variables contribute minimally to prediction. (SLD)

Describes a state university/public school system/state department of education partnership that created an alternative certification program for qualified post-baccalaureate minority candidates interested in teaching elementary students. Program evaluations indicate that the program is effectively meeting the need to reduce the disparity between…

Describes the Teaching and Learning Collaborative (TLC) in Technology, which prepared preservice teachers to incorporate technology into lesson plans and supported inservice teachers' professional development with technology, offering a professional-development course, seminar sessions, and e-mail communication. Evaluation indicated that…

A survey of 138 dental hygiene program directors found dissatisfaction with program assessment practices and use of assessment data. Most use alumni/employer surveys and curriculum evaluations by students, but share results mostly with faculty. They use the data for curriculum revision but not for adding assessment measures, student remediation,…

Reports on the similarities and differences between educational use and business use of technology-based distance learning. Topics discussed include organizational infrastructure; cost effectiveness; program assessment models; higher education institutions providing distance learning to businesses; faculty and management acceptance; policy…

Provides an evaluator's view of the quantitative effects of the Core Knowledge Sequence, a content-based K-6 curriculum model, and other reforms at Hawthorne Elementary School (Houston, Texas). Pretest and posttest results show increased academic performance in reading, writing, and mathematics, based on Texas Assessment of Academic Skills…

What are the attributes of a high-quality early childhood education program worldwide? A group of experienced early childhood educators that represent diverse international backgrounds attempts to respond to this question by examining six dimensions of quality set forth by the Association for Childhood Education International: (1) philosophies and…