An institutional advancement administrator draws on experience running an office with limited resources to offer suggestions to others, including putting basics in place first, then fine-tuning them, and developing a do-everything publication, a plan for special events and fund-raising, an annual giving structure, and a strong core of volunteers.…

Tech prep is a major shift in the direction and depth of education. Its success depends on nontraditional delivery methods and technically competent teachers committed to students and to the program philosophy. (SK)

Surveyed 37 child welfare workers who participated in a 2-day continuing education program on substance abuse. Found that, after they completed the program, the workers appeared to be more willing to work with their clients' addiction problems and had more confidence that they could make a difference in their clients' lives. (MDM)

Suggests that not everything in education has to be evaluated in terms of cognitive outcome measures. Describes a computer-mediated communication project that involved sixth-grade students in a private school in Montreal and slightly older students in a mainly Inuit town in the far northern part of Quebec. Discusses the actual benefits of the…

A standardized training valuation system (TVS) is built around a set of analytic tools and employs a four-step process: situation, intervention, impact, value. The methodology identifies specific, current, and potential values as well as value obtained. It also helps determine why a training program failed. (JOW)

Describes guard-designed and implemented contingency-management work squad training program for administratively segregated prison inmates with histories of violent and assaultive behavior. Notes that participation in the work squad program sharply reduced frequency of violent and assaultive behavior for 8 of 10 offender-participants whose…

Examines the benefits and pitfalls of large-scale concurrent planning--working with families toward reunification while developing alternative permanency plans. Notes that as large-scale programs begin to develop nationally, those implementing concurrent planning must be aware of pitfalls that can undermine effectiveness, while keeping in mind its…

The effectiveness of a sexual-education and health-promotion program for 252 women with mental retardation was analyzed using an evaluation model. Three factors (hygiene, social interaction, and sexual experience) affected sexual knowledge directly. An increase in sexual knowledge was associated with a greater number of instructional contacts.…

Describes the "Failure Free Reading Program," based on effective principles identified in research on successful reading programs. Key steps in teaching word recognition and comprehension skills include previewing, listening, presenting content from the story, reading, and reviewing the story. Significant differences in performance were found.…

Minnie Howard School, just outside Washington, D.C., caters exclusively to 14-year olds. Started seven years ago to relieve enrollment pressures, the school protects its 747 9th graders from typical high-school pressures and has reduced suspension and truancy, enrolled more kids in honors classes, and enticed privately educated students back to…

Describes the Diversity News Program, which trains University of Washington journalism students to produce stories on higher education from a diversity perspective. Finds most diversity journalism was centered on race and ethnicity, thus overlooking other issues; background information about diversity themes was provided in the majority of…

Explores issues in evaluating exemplary programs, including the measurement of the degree to which the program is exemplary or promising. Suggests that comparison (control) group analysis can mislead researchers about the effectiveness of a program and suggests the use of gain scores to identify exemplary programs. (SLD)

The "Discover Engineering Summer Camp" program is intended to educate young women about engineering careers. Program evaluation and follow-up surveys show the experience increases awareness among participants of engineering as a career, and follow-up surveys show that 60% pursue engineering and cite the camp as having influenced their decision.…

Conducted an impact study of the Onward to Excellence (OTE) school-improvement process in 33 elementary, middle, and high schools in rural high-poverty areas in Mississippi. OTE implementation was weak and uneven, and student achievement showed no pattern of change in OTE schools. The four schools with the highest implementation showed somewhat…

Describes the Parents as Teachers (PAT) program, a parent-education program that includes home visiting and reports the results of evaluations of two randomized trials of PAT. Results from one of the studies suggested that home visits produced about a one-month developmental advantage per 10 visits for participating children. (SLD)