Evaluates two programs in the Johnsonian "war against poverty": one "macroeconomic," attempting to create an environment of greater job opportunities and higher employment; the other "microeconomic," investing in low-income workers to raise their relative earning power. (Author/JM)

Examines two goals of anti-poverty programs beyond reducing the number of people in income poverty and increasing public expenditures disproportionately benefiting the poor: that inequality of income should be substantially narrowed, and that benefits for the poor must meet their needs. (Author/JM)

Assesses the effectiveness of federal housing-related policies in the 1960's and early 1970's, discussing in detail the "trickle-down" process that dominates American urban development and the periods in which housing had first a low priority, and then a high priority. (JM)

Author, with the U.S. Office of Education, describes Management Information and Evaluation System (COP-MIES) which was developed in response to the various short-comings of present-day evaluation and the specific developmental needs of the Career Opportunities Program. (Author/MB)

To illustrate the point that incremental policy changes are important results of program evaluation, the author investigated the influence of evaluation on federal education policymaking as seen in the 1978 reauthorization of the Bilingual Education Act. (LC)

The Experience Based Career Education (EDCE) program serves as a focal point of a cast study documenting how the National Institute of Education secured Office of Education funds to demonstrate an R&D innovation. Serious questions are raised about the regulations-writing process and the use of evaluation information. (Author/LC)

The Holtzman Project at Northwestern University reviewed educational program evaluations at the federal, state, and local levels of government. This paper focuses on the administration of the project, including constraints on its operations, the strategic decisions that seemed correct at the time, and some decisions that now seem wrong. (BW)

Willson's informal analysis of the impact of 20 project evaluations suggests that many federal- and state-mandated evaluations have little effect on decision making. William J. Gephart reacts to this analysis and suggests reasons why evaluators' reports may not be used. Finally, Willson supports secondary data analysis. (GDC)

Current federal youth employment programs have failed to meet the employment needs of disadvantaged youth. Programs should be revised to: (1) require all participants to receive remedial academic instruction on the high school level; and (2) train participants in at least one vocational skill for which there exists a local demand for youth…

Offers a brief outline of the results that have been achieved in Title I reading programs, a discussion of the new role that teachers in all content areas must assume for improving reading skills, and a prediction about the future of Title I reading programs. (FL)

Reviews characteristics of the 4-H program in America. Discusses the Congressional mandate of 1977 which called for evaluation of the program. Briefly reviews historically the controversy surrounding this mandate in terms of the shift in emphasis in the 4-H program which may result from a call for accountability at the national level. (CS)

Discusses applications of evaluation methodology for educational programs to extension evaluation. Reviews alternative evaluation designs, makes specific suggestions for interpreting past evaluation studies, and presents ideas for future extension evaluation. (CS)

Discusses the quality of school-level data collected as part of state accountability systems, including the reliability and validity of school-level test scores as a measure of the value added by schools to student learning, outlining ways that these data can be usefully analyzed; illustrating challenges inherent in doing so; and discussing…

A large-scale study of the effects of the Job Training Partnership Act Title II-A program (n=21,000) showed modest positive earnings impacts for adults and cost-effective returns for society. However, net benefits for out-of-school youth and for society were negative. (SK)

Assessing results of grants programs is illustrated with evaluation activities of the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies. Methods considered are ex-ante peer review of proposed work, ex-post peer review of completed work, publications-based methods, and "look-back" methods tracing contributions of past work and…