This issue of The Evaluation Exchange explores the promising practices and challenges associated with taking an enterprise to scale, along with the role that evaluation can and should play in that process. Surprisingly few examples exist of nonprofit efforts that have scaled up and achieved lasting success. A program or approach may be strong…

In fall 2009, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project to develop and test multiple measures of teacher effectiveness. The goal of the MET project is to improve the quality of information about teaching effectiveness available to education professionals within states and districts--information…

Little research has been conducted to directly compare the effectiveness of different models of field-based learning experiences and little has been reported on the use of the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) standards in establishing a formative assessment for teacher candidates (TCs). The current study used the…

"The Condition of Education 2018" is a congressionally mandated annual report summarizing the latest data on education in the United States. This report is designed to help policymakers and the public monitor educational progress. This report contains indicators on the state of education in the United States, from prekindergarten through…

As part of a national e-learning benchmarking initiative of the UK Higher Education Academy, the University of Manchester is carrying out a pilot study of a method to benchmark e-learning in an institution. The pilot was designed to evaluate the operational viability of a method based on the e-Learning Maturity Model developed at the University of…

As the battle for "world class excellence" accelerates, competition for students, faculty, finance and researchers between higher education institutions, nationally and internationally, has intensified. In this environment, the results of formally and relatively benign benchmarking exercises have taken on increased prominence and importance…

We report findings on the methodological phase of a research project designed to assess the progress of the British Columbia Open University (BCOU) toward a 1997 goal of increasing distance education course completion rates to British Columbia system levels by adapting existing "off-line" courses for online delivery (a virtualization…

This paper explores the performance efficiency of natural and technical science departments at Austrian universities using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). We present DEA as an alternative tool for benchmarking and ranking the assignment of decision-making units (organisations and organisational units). The method applies a multiple input and…

The current investigation studied the effects of a computer software program of the oral reading fluency and comprehension of eight, first grade students. These students were identified as being either "at-risk" or "some-risk" for reading failure on the DIBELS oral reading fluency winter benchmark assessment. A multiple probe…

According to a recent survey of colleagues across the disciplines, the most effective and engaging academic writers are those who express complex ideas clearly and succinctly; write with originality, imagination and creative flair; convey enthusiasm, commitment and a strong sense of self; tap into a wide range of intellectual interests; avoid…

We propose a novel data distribution framework for developing a large Web-based course forum system. In the distributed architectural design, each forum server is fully equipped with the ability to support some course forums independently. The forum servers collaborating with each other constitute the whole forum system. Therefore, the workload of…

The 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is the fourth administration since 1995 of this international comparison. Developed and implemented at the international level by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA)--an international organization of national research institutions…

In June 2006, the California Postsecondary Education Commission adopted an Accountability Framework for Higher Education, consisting of four goals and 17 measures for evaluating the performance of public higher education in California. The initial series of reports from the framework presented a variety of information on the affordability of…

Every state in the United States, the District of Columbia, and the Department of Defense Education Activity now has its own academic standards, at least in core subjects. These documents vary in their structure, level of specificity, and other characteristics. Professional societies have also developed standards, in mathematics, English language…

Which comprehensive school reform programs have evidence of positive effects on middle and high school achievement? To find out, this review summarizes evidence on comprehensive school reform (CSR) models in grades 6-12. Comprehensive school reform models are programs used schoolwide to improve student achievement. They typically include the…