Two surveys of educational professionals in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington sought, first, to assemble criteria to test the validity and "exportability" of potentially exemplary educational programs and, second, to develop a measurement instrument to perform such validations. In each survey the respondents rated the acceptability…

The Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS) was administered to pupils in Grades 2 through 7, 9 and 11 during the 1979-80 school year as part of the Corvallis School District's testing program. Results of the CTBS, herein expressed as mean (average) percentile rank scores from each of the grades tested, are compared with those of prior years.…

The paper assesses an effort by the elementary school system of Hammond, Indiana, to develop and implement an educational program to improve children's attitudes toward animal life. Three levels of humane education treatment were introduced. The first level, introduced in seven schools, consisted of an intensive program involving humane education…

Building on the finding that respondent belief in the efficacy of surveys is perhaps more important in determining feelings of burden than interview length, some possible approaches available to the Federal Evaluation Contractor (FEC) to reduce respondent burden are identified. These approaches aim to generate acceptance at the various levels…

A series of papers was developed by the authors as part of their deliberations as members of the National Research Council's Committee of Program Evaluation in Education. The papers provide a broad range of present evaluative thinking. The conflict between preferences in evaluation methodology comes through in these papers. The selections include:…

Sampling activities for Year 11 of the National Assessment of Educational Progress began in 1977 when plans were begun to Years 11-14. In March 1979 the sample was selected and allocated. In-school secondary sample selection activities were carried out during May through August, 1979, and in-school package assignment and field support activities…

This paper discusses how an experimental design can be applied to a large-scale evaluation. The purpose of the study described is to assess the success of the National Science Foundation (NSF) in achieving its goal for five comprehensive projects. This paper is divided into four main sections: (1) design; (2) sampling procedures; (3) data…

This bibliography lists material on the topic of decision-making in education appearing during the past five years. In view of the large volume of material available, entries are generally restricted to those dealing with the organization, administration, financing, and evaluation of educational institutions, programs, and systems. Most of the…

Designed to survey teachers, this questionnaire was developed and validated by the Educational Progress in Careers (EPIC) project to evaluate career, economic, and community education programs in Florida Schools. The instrument surveys the teachers' knowledge of the economic system, occupations, and employment and entry skills. (A User's Manual…

Designed for school administrators, this booklet contains four instruments developed and validated by the Educational Progress in Careers (EPIC) project to evaluate career, economic, and community education programs in Florida Schools. The instruments included in this document are intended to survey (1) career education directors, (2)…

This paper investigates the role of data collection and analysis in the process of legislative evaluation of academic programs, a process which is influenced not only by the expectations and perceptions of both legislators and educators, but, most recently, by consumerism. Before educators can grapple effectively with their concerns over…

Futurism in foreign language education focuses attention on the need to plan our children's curricula, not on the basis of a mechanical assessment of current needs, but with due consideration for the intellectual abilities life in the future will require. Second language learning offers a safeguard against submission to the technocratic…

The following papers on the current status of the foreign language teaching profession are included: (1) "The View on the Way Up: A Wider Perspective," by Wilga M. Rivers; (2) "Educational Goals: The Foreign Language Teacher's Response," also by Rivers; (3) "Cindy: A Learner in Today's Foreign Language Classroom," by Carol Hosenfeld; and (4) "The…

This general assessment of the foreign language teaching profession moves from a discussion of the milieu in which the foreign language teacher works to an attempt to address the question, "Can teachers really make a difference?" The need for vision in the teacher's role is affirmed in the context of the difficulties of identifying the…

Statewide information about the performance of Massachusetts' grade 12 students in listening and speaking is presented for the 1979-80 school year. A total of 2,207 students were tested by listening to material on a tape recording and then answering multiple-choice questions about what they heard. The performance of students in listening is…