In 1973, the Pennsylvania Environmental Education Advisory Council was charged with surveying the current status of environmental education in the state and preparing recommendations for the development and subsequent implementation of a broad-based environmental education program plan for kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12). The Council was…

The following points are made in discussing the practical and political problems involved in implementing a teaching evaluation system for rewarding and improving instructional effectiveness. (1) We have an obligation to put a higher priority on teaching than we have done so far. (2) Any evaluation system should be tied to a strong system for…

Monitors are provided with step-by-step directions on how to administer Pennsylvania's Educational Quality Assessment Questionnaires to elementary school pupils. They are told what materials are needed, how to keep materials secure, and what to do if a student misses a session. Monitors are given suggestions for questionnaire administration and…

This final evaluation report of two ESEA Title III projects conducted by the Training Center for Open-Space Schools, District of Columbia, contains detailed descriptions of the projects' evaluation design, evaluation methods, results, conclusions, and recommendations. Continued on-site training, freedom of choice for teachers, and human relations…

This booklet approaches the question of whether competency-based teacher education (CBTE) and performance-based teacher education (PBTE) can foster meaningful change in teacher preparation programs. The following sections are included: (a) CBTE background and definitions of related terms; (b) a differentiation between PBTE and CBTE, with PBTE seen…

This paper outlines some of the issues and identifies information and resources available in the field of performance-based teacher education (PBTE). Issues include (a) performance or product--concerning the chain of accountability from teacher trainers to teacher trainee, resting on the characteristic of demonstrated performance (with the teacher…

Conducted from October 1970 through August 1971, this assessment of reading was concerned with four age levels--9, 13, 17, and 26-35. A total of 98,016 people responded to a wide variety of reading exercises which were administered and scored by trained professionals. The results were then examined according to various group characteristics: sex,…

New Jersey's legislature, as the result of a decision by the State Supreme Court in Robinson vs Cahill, is now under order to implement the century-old provision in the State's constitution for "a thorough and efficient system of free public schools." In an effort to contribute to the resolution of the problems arising from this order, a…

The meeting was organized around 10 symposia concerning the following areas: teacher evaluation through measurement of student achievement, statewide evaluation, district evaluation procedures, individualized evaluation standards, learning improvement, competency based curriculum, administrative evaluation, student evaluation of the system, and…

There are many reasons why teachers evaluate students: to provide colleges and prospective employers with some measure of a student's skill level; to inform parents of their child's progress; and to provide both teacher and student with a guide to areas needing further attention in the teaching and learning process, to mention three. Just as there…

The purpose of the project was to identify common curricular needs among seven small contiguous midwestern school districts by means of parallel needs assessments conducted independently by each district. Operating under a state finance plan in which school spending is tied directly to student enrollment and faced with a decreasing number of…

This paper asks whether all the current attention being given to educational evaluation and all the activity going on indicates real progress in the output of evaluation and its use in the policy process. The paper reviews the brief history of educational evaluation and gives a qualified "yes" as an answer to the question, noting: significant…

Some States (notably New York, Pennsylvania, and Oregon) collect information which provides evidence or indicators that their school programs are doing what they are intended to do. For example, finding out how many college preparatory students are still in college and how many vocational students are gainfully employed in the vocation for which…

The Bureau of Indian Affairs' (BIA) Higher Education Program was evaluated in order to provide valid information for decision making. Data gathered by a questionnaire administered to 2,736 students in a previous study was refined by applying the chi-square test of significant differences to certain student characteristics and variables. Each area…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) was created in 1969, and its goals were twofold: to make available the first comprehensive data on the educational attainments of young Americans in 10 learning areas and to measure any growth or decline that takes place in the educational attainments of young Americans. In 7 of the 10…