Five focus group sessions involving 35 persons associated with Research for Better Schools had to initiate a needs assessment. Tapes and transcripts of the sessions were analyzed. Analyses support the value of the focus groups in providing input to the design of the needs assessment survey. (TJH)

Proposes evaluation guidelines that are tailored specifically for adult basic education programs and reflect the issues of content and delivery typical of many local programs. Includes a sample evaluation tool. (JOW)

Among the opinions of the deans of colleges of agriculture at the major land-grant universities in the 50 states on cooperative extension within today's changing economy are the following: extension needs a system approach; it should operate more on a regional basis; and staff should be more involved in research. (JOW)

Zenger reviews an article on training that he wrote 16 years ago. He looks at the progress made and suggests that every profession has room for improvement. The text of the original article is included. (JOW)

A literature review synthesized recommendations of 58 reports for improving juvenile justice. Extension implications include the following: focus on meaningful youth programming with opportunities for healthy social interaction, multilevel teams and collaborations, attention to different needs of urban and rural youth, and creative approaches to…

This document supplements the advice given in "How good is our school?" (HGIOS)--third edition and "The Child at the Centre"--second edition which set out comprehensive quality frameworks and provide helpful advice on the process of improvement through self-evaluation. In particular, this document provides advice on the…

This study explored cooperation between members of two interdisciplinary teams of educators within the agricultural field in a northeastern state. A researcher-developed instrument was used to explore individual perceptions regarding interdisciplinary cooperation. Using qualitative methods, the researchers intended to bring to light the thoughts,…

Professional development in family-centred services was given to professionals supporting children with disabilities and their families with the purpose to influence ways to perform working tasks. Is it possible to change ways of working through in-service training? In order to find answers to that question perceptions of in-service training at…

This article is based on the perceptions of California State University administrators and provides a comparative study of the challenges and benefits resulting from the implementation of the teaching performance assessment requirement of SB 2042 standards 19-21 on the California State University (CSU) campuses. With 23 campuses and almost 450,000…

Every music educator is an advocate for music education. Members of the The National Association for Music Education (MENC) advocate for the cause of music education. Beginning right in the classroom and moving beyond it to community leaders state decision makers, music teachers have spheres of influence where they can cultivate support for music…

A particle technology design problem incorporating population balance modeling was developed and assigned to senior and first-year graduate students in a Particle Science and Technology course. The problem focused on particle collection, with a pipeline agglomerator, Cyclone, and baghouse comprising the collection system. The problem was developed…

Many graduate creative writing programs depend on "star" faculty who have been hired more because of their professional reputation as writers than because of their commitment to teaching. As a result, such programs often fail to provide reflection on teaching that would truly serve their students. One step toward alleviating this problem is to…

This document is intended to assist State Education Agency (SEA) and Lead Agency (LA) staff and technical assistance providers in designing a meaningful evaluation for the State Performance Plan (SPP)/Annual Performance Report (APR) improvement activities. It provides: (1) information about the relevance of evaluation in the context of improvement…

Over the past 20 years, home visitation has emerged as the flagship program through which many states and communities are reaching out to new parents.The presence of bills to advance home visitation in Congress and in state and local legislatures, and the fact that several states and counties are moving forward with comprehensive plans and…

This report contains a summary of a survey of violence prevention programs and a conference on the state of the art in evaluating such programs, as well as conclusions and recommendations. The survey of 51 violence prevention programs focused on evaluation activities. Analysis of the data indicated: frequently the goals have not been used to…