The U.S. Department of Education's Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) is undertaking a major initiative to substantially redesign its program monitoring and improvement system. The overriding goal is to improve vocational rehabilitation (VR) services and employment outcomes for individuals with disabilities through the development of a…

Louisiana's initiative to assist local communities to develop and operate school-based health centers (SBHCs), in place for 10 years, is a nationally-recognized model. This annual report illustrates the vital work being done in Louisiana's SBHCs over the past 10 years to assist families in ensuring their children's health and well-being. Section 1…

This workshop manual focuses on validation procedures designed to foster program improvement rather than compliance monitoring. The manual is in eight chapters. Chapter 1 looks at the elements to be evaluated--organization and management, training, student assessment, design and implementation of classroom interventions, team work, screening a…

This case study, part of the State Structures for the Governance of Higher Education study, focuses on governance and related issues in Illinois' higher education system. The study's overall purpose was to examine differences among states in their governance structures, and to determine if differences in performance were related to governing…

An analysis was conducted of the Alaska Student Loan Program (ASLP), especially as it was used for borrowing for short-term training at vocational schools. An immediate effect of the ASLP program was a rapid increase in the number of postsecondary institutions (primarily vocational schools); the peak number of borrowers was reached in 1985, and…

The School-Based Youth Services Program (SBYSP) of the Iowa Department of Education has just completed its seventh year of operation. This report focuses on the 1995-96 school year, which was the second year of the expanded SBYSP, which went from its original 4 sites to 18. These sites include rural and urban areas, and some of the poorest areas…

Louisiana's initiative to assist local communities to develop and operate school-based health centers (SBHCs) is a nationally recognized model. This annual report illustrates the vital work being done in SBHCs in Louisiana to assist families in ensuring their children's health and well-being. Section 1 of the report details the continuous…

The Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) program is a statewide effort in Wisconsin to increase the academic achievement of children living in poverty by reducing the student-teacher ratio in kindergarten through grade 3 to 15:1. This report is the second of five annual evaluation reports. During the 1997-1998 school year, the SAGE…

The Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) program is a statewide effort in Wisconsin to increase the academic achievement of children living in poverty by eventually reducing the student-teacher ratio in kindergarten through grade 3 to 15:1. During 1995-1996, the Sage program was implemented in 30 schools in 21 school districts. Over…

The Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) is a statewide effort in Wisconsin to increase the academic achievement of children living in poverty by reducing the student-teacher ratio in kindergarten through third grade to 15:1. Schools participating in SAGE are also required to implement a rigorous curriculum, provide before- and…

In 1998, the Illinois statewide coalition Work, Welfare and Families, in partnership with the Chicago Urban League, undertook a study to assess the effects of welfare reform on low-income families and children across Illinois. The findings were derived from three sources: a self-administered survey of 2,166 low-income clients of Illinois social…

A large-scale evaluation was conducted of Jobs-First GAIN, a strongly employment-focused mandatory welfare-to-work program. Its main features were an unusually intensive program orientation; high quality job clubs; job development activities; strong encouragement to take entry-level jobs and combine work and welfare in the short-term; and…

In less than five years, the California State Library-sponsored InFoPeople project connected 46% of California's public libraries to the Internet and established a highly regarded, sustained training program to assist librarians in taking advantage of the new networked resources and services. The primary objective of this Stage II report was to…

Describes developments in the fields of learning theory, assessment, and politics of national and state assessments. Shows how use of these developments and modern assessment and evaluation methodologies can address some long-standing problems in Chapter 1 evaluation. Focuses on linking classroom and school improvement with Chapter 1 program…

Presents a meta-analytic review of evaluations of state-funded preschool programs over 20 years. Identifies several methodological flaws but also suggests that pattern of findings offers modest support for positive impact in improving children's developmental competence, improving later school attendance and performance, and reducing subsequent…