With increasing concern for accountability in education, faculty and administrators are seeking improved means to evaluate their programs. The internship provides a natural feedback loop for program assessment as it bridges the gap between the academic and the applied worlds of communication. A case study explored the utility of the analysis of…

The goal of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) of 1990 was that all schools would be successful as measured by the Kentucky Instructional Results Information System (KIRIS). The Kentucky Distinguished Educator Program was created to promote the goal. The program sought to create a pool of distinguished educators who would serve in School…

The first state-funded program of its kind, the Georgia Pre-K program has grown exponentially since its inception in 1993. The program operates in a variety of settings and is run by different types of organizations, including public and private schools, community centers, colleges and universities, and private child care centers. This report…

Departments of speech communication need to strengthen their positions within their institutions now in order, not only to survive, but to contribute to the changes in higher education needed for the new millennium. To have the necessary strength, a department must be and be seen as high in quality, central to the mission of its institution, and…

This information sheet (the third in a new government series published for teachers, parents, and others interested in current education themes) offers a brief overview of Reading Recovery, an early intervention program to help low-achieving 6-year-olds learn to read. The information sheet discusses what Reading Recovery is, what its components…

A study assessed the effectiveness of the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) Reticence Program as a treatment for individuals with communication difficulties, such as communication apprehension, reticence, and shyness. Several standardized tests of social communication problems were used in a pretest-posttest design with a control group and two…

This report evaluates the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, emphasizing the role and responsibilities of the Commission as specified in Alabama law. The Evaluation Committee sought perspective on the Commission's performance from a wide variety of educational, political, and civic leadership via a questionnaire, interviews, hearings, and…

This booklet describes a method that any school can use to test the effectiveness of their current spelling program or to compare various spelling programs being used within their system. After a brief discussion of the cost of the program, the booklet describes the paired word approach to evaluating spelling programs, in which one set of words is…

This report describes the important contribution that Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) Volunteers are making to help reduce alcohol and drug abuse. ACTION undertook a study of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program's activities in alcohol and drug abuse prevention and education. The study had two major goals: to provide descriptive…

This report presents the results of a study of the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS) programs operated by Indian tribes and Alaska Native organizations. Congress established the JOBS program to give recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) the education, training, work experience, and supportive services they…

This report evaluates the Behavior Change Program, a program in Broward County Public Schools, Florida, that helps severely disruptive elementary school children learn and apply appropriate behaviors. The program is modeled on a level system that moves the student from the self-contained "behavior" classroom to the "regular"…

Computer assisted career guidance (CACG) systems have been around for at least the past 20 years in career guidance centers. There are two types of systems: information retrieval and guidance interaction. This study investigated the effectiveness of DISCOVER in facilitating career decisions among college students. DISCOVER is a systematic career…

The Remaining Off Alcohol and Drugs Program (ROAD) was developed to teach newly abstinent chemical misusing clients how to remain alcohol and drug free. It provides its participants with a repertoire of knowledge, skills and behaviors that they can use in dealing with the most common problems caused by discontinuing chemical use and which can be…

According to the California State Department of Justice there were 182,000 reported cases of domestic violence in 1988 that required police intervention. This descriptive study, an explorative evaluation survey, examined 47 shelter programs in California to determine what components are essential to a shelter's effectiveness in facilitating…

Ways in which program innovators, policy developers, and educational researchers think about and engage in disseminating innovations to schools can prove a major barrier to reform. A process for effective dissemination using the coaching model in the accelerated schools program is described here. Accelerated schools draw on three principles: unity…