Selections from the last three basal reading series produced by the Houghton Mifflin Company were examined to determine what improvements were made. One of the fundamental changes occurring in the 1971 revision ("Readers") was the replacement of grade designations with numerical levels that provided a better match between student and…

Whether initiated by law, regulation, or administrative direction, evaluations have political purposes. Improvement, the classic purpose of evaluation, is most faithfully observed when the importance, funding, and constituency of a program are small. If something is wrong, or if the program's existence is threatened, evaluation can become a weapon…

Evaluability assessment is a descriptive and analytic process intended to produce a reasoned basis for proceeding with an evaluation of use to both management and policymakers. It was jointly developed by the members of the program evaluation group of the Urban Institute between 1968 and 1978. The approach begins by obtaining management's…

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS SHOULD BE APPLIED TO SCHOOL PLANNING TO PROVIDE A GENERAL FRAMEWORK WITHIN WHICH EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED IN THE MOST REASONABLE MANNER. SYSTEMS ANALYSIS METHODS INTEGRATE THE DIFFERING VALUES OF EDUCATORS INTO COMMON OBJECTIVES. SUCCESSFUL USE OF PROGRAM BUDGETING DEPENDS ON (1) PLANNING, STRUCTURAL DESIGN, AND…

A WORKSHOP DEALING WITH THE HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT WAS HELD FOR THE PURPOSES OF DISSEMINATING INFORMATION AND REVIEWING RESEARCH IN THIS FIELD. ATTEMPTS TO PROVIDE FOR THE DROPOUT IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS ARE NOT NEW, BUT THE BASIS FOR IMPLEMENTING A SUCCESSFUL PROGRAM HAS BEEN FOUND TO BE TEACHER ACCEPTANCE OF THE STUDENT ON STUDENT TERMS. ALL EFFORTS TO…

FOUR AREAS ARE CONSIDERED - SURVEYS AND PUBLICATIONS, WORKSHOPS AND CONSULTANT SERVICES, PILOT PROGRAMS, AND RESEARCH PROGRAMS. UNDER SURVEYS AND PUBLICATIONS ARE LISTED ADMINISTRATIVE AND SUPERVISORY PERSONNEL, SUMMER SCHOOL SESSIONS, RESOURCE CONSULTANTS, AND KEYS TO THE IDENTIFICATION OF GIFTED CHILDREN. UNDER WORKSHOP AND CONSULTANT SERVICES…

This guide is designed to assist school administrators and teachers in planning and developing dramatic and theatre arts programs that meet the needs of a wide range of students from kindergarten through grade 12. The first section of the guide sets forth a philosophy, goals, and criteria for effective theatre arts programs in general. The second…

An education service center providing inservice programs to constituent school districts acted upon a recommendation that an independent evaluation component be added to their center for the purpose of improving their programs. This report of the first-year experience with the evaluation component is divided into four sections. The first section…

Focusing on the improvement of graduate programs in vocational education, this monograph is organized into two sections. Section 1 reports the results of a survey initiated by the National Resource Panel of graduate programs in vocational education in the United States. Section 2 contains working papers used in a workshop which addressed the…

There is a growing need for program evaluation in the human services field. Along with this is a need to assess environments in order to plan effective programs. Graduate programs are doing little to prepare students for this task. Instead of training students how to do evaluation, graduate programs stubbornly adhere to the experimental…

The Division of Teacher Education and Psychology at Southwestern Oklahoma State University has developed a unique approach to the task ofimproving teacher education. The uniqueness of the approach lies in (1) the attempt to revise an on-going program without additional funding, personnel, and released time; (2) the use of the basic tenents of…

This report points out that although Follow Through, an experimental program designed to find more effective approaches to teaching young children from low-income families, achieved differences in outcome between Follow Through and non-Follow Through children, problems in its initial design and implementation will limit reaching statistically…

The evaluation identifies the 19 vocational education planning districts reviewed by Ohio's Program Review for Improvement, Development and Expansion (PRIDE) during 1973-74. Components of the review program included: (1) administrative review by the local superintendent, (2) process variable review with a lay advisory committee, (3) product review…

This monograph speaks to the basic problems confronting human services programs, and offers suggestions for improving guidance services. Specific concerns addressed are: (1) the need for more systematic program planning and evaluation; (2) an approach to effective planning and evaluation; (3) development of staff skills for use in the…

This manual describes the Arizona Right to Read Needs Assessment Package, which is designed to assist individual schools in evaluating their current reading program, personnel, and achievement. The package contains an introduction followed by a summary of techniques of assessing student performance, a description of current reading programs and…