Arguing that the development of a notion of sense-making is of critical importance to improving science learning, this paper examines science teaching in four Boston (Massachusetts)-area classrooms that participated in an experiment on ways of integrating technology into a sixth-grade science curriculum on the earth's seasons. The task of the…

An 11-point plan was developed by the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS) in cooperation with the California Department of Education for the 1990-91 year. Major program objectives were designed to enhance agency involvement, identify underlying causes of student attrition, examine test administration and security practices,…

This benefit-cost evaluation project provides a comprehensive analysis of a school district special education program. The project addressed the need for information on ways to evaluate special education programs and to make programmatic decisions based on evaluation information. Project activities focused on the following four interrelated areas:…

One aspect of the development of a performance assessment is addressed--the field testing of the tasks. In a performance-based assessment, the tasks must allow each examinee a fair and equal opportunity to give the best possible demonstration of his or her ability, and must elicit a performance sample that enables scorers to evaluate each examinee…

As a step in considering the addition of dropout statistics to the Common Core of Data (CCD) collected by the National Center for Education Statistics, telephone and personal interviews about the feasibility of implementing a standard national dropout statistics collection were conducted. Interviews were held from May through September of 1990…

This project presents a pool of questions that can be used in surveys to provide data that would enable state and local education agencies, school administrators, teachers, parents, and the computer industry to make better informed decisions regarding: (1) curriculum planning and implementation in elementary and secondary school; (2) design of…

In Part H of Public Law 99-457, the Federal Government agrees to provide modest financial resources to aid the states in planning and developing comprehensive, multidisciplinary, coordinated services for young children with handicaps and their families, and presents mandates for reforms in the service delivery system. This paper identifies the…

Survey instruments used in the collection of data for the High School and Beyond base year (1980) through the third follow-up surveys (1986) are provided as Volume II of a user's manual for the senior cohort data file. The complete user's manual is designed to provide the extensive documentation necessary for using the cohort data files. Copies of…

A study examined the information collected by the Department of Defense on both the quality of its new recruits and the effectiveness of its training in preparing recruits to operate in a technologically sophisticated environment. It found that data were collected at a recruit's entrance to military life, during and upon completion of formal…

GENESYS is the GENeric Evaluation SYStem of the Office of Research and Evaluation, Austin (Texas) Independent School District. It is a method of streamlining data collection and evaluation for a variety of projects. GENESYS gathers data from the school system's data bases and reports the following information (characteristics and outcomes) on…

This document, the fourth of five volumes of a study of programs of instruction for handicapped children and youth in separate day and residential facilities throughout the United States, contains instruments and materials used in two surveys designed to gather data for the study: (1) a survey of separate facilities; and (2) a survey of State…

The paper focuses on three critical programming issues in providing support services to higher education students with learning disabilities. The first issue concerns the garnering of administrative support for students with learning disabilities. Administrative support cannot be effectively achieved until college administrators determine where…

Modeling and data collection efforts needed to develop a test of the effectiveness of adult literacy and language training programs in increasing the earnings of trainees are reviewed. After reviewing the framework developed for the Manpower Development and Training Act and the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) evaluations and the…

This guide is intended to assist states and service delivery areas (SDAs) in addressing the new oversight responsibilities and opportunities stipulated by the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) with respect to planning and conducting a gross impact evaluation. The following topics are covered in the individual chapters: introduction and overview…

Recent developments in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) have addressed criticisms of previous assessments and have focused on state education departments as the major clients for test results. NAEP currently indicates progress in academic learning but does not define which aspects of schools are responsible for successes and…