This paper presents the three year process used in developing a teacher evaluation model for the Fort Worth (Texas) Independent School District. Based on Dr. Richard Manatt's School Improvement Model for Teacher Performance Evaluation, the purposes of the model were to improve teaching skills and to enable valid and reliable judgements concerning…

Discussions were held with administrative staff and evaluators from the New York City Public Schools in order to identify sources of data for evaluating special education programs. Data which are generally available include: (1) citywide reading test scores; (2) number of diplomas issued; (3) number of students decertified; (4) number of students…

Two evaluation projects conducted for the Minnesota Agricultural Extension Service are examined from a user-focused perspective: (1) a needs assessment of large scale commercial farmers for program development by the Office of Special Programs; and (2) a review of the extension programs in Nicollet County. Each incorporated the focus group method…

The purposes of this study were to establish the interrater reliability, dimensionality, and internal consistency of an instruction evaluation instrument used at The University of Michigan Medical School. Using the nine-item rating scale, 1,758 student ratings and 88 staff ratings were gathered on 61 faculty. Interrater agreement ranged from .28…

Discusses the changes in art education within the last 30 years and considers their effect on assessment. Briefly touches on theorists and their contributions to the field, including Elliot Eisner, Robert Stake, and Leonard Meyer. Includes a summarized list of art education guidelines. (MJP)

The Project on Secondary Analysis directed its attention to methodology and policy issues, focusing on reanalysis of existing data (1979-82)--surveys, program evaluations, etc.--as a vehicle for learning how to improve methods of obtaining and analyzing data, designing program evaluations, and constructing policy to enhance the quality and utility…

A study of microcomputer courseware reviews was carried out in order to discover which criteria they discuss, whether reviewers agree in their assessments, how evaluative the reviews are, and whether the reviewing policy of the journal influences the review. The content analysis instrument was a composite of criteria developed by organizations…

Linking Outcomes to Organizational Planning (LOOP) was initiated during the 1984-85 school year in the Austin (Texas) Independent School District. LOOP was designed to ensure that evaluation, research, and informal findings became part of the instructional planning loop; to provide information to the Superintendent on progress toward priorities…

The evaluation of a school improvement program for elementary schools (School Effectiveness Training) and for secondary schools (Secondary School Development Program) provided an opportunity to determine if user participation could increase knowledge use. It was hypothesized that program staff participation might be a solution to the dilemma of…

The focus of this study was on the visual analysis of time series data for evaluating educational programs. Two characteristics of the data--changes in slope and variability--and two characteristics of evaluation--training in data utilization and the use of aimlines/decision rules--were manipulated. A total of 51 students and/or teachers in…

The future of instructional evaluation will probably involve responding to changes in the goals of both teaching and evaluating teachers. The inadequacies of student achievement tests as measures of educational effectiveness will lead to a shift of interest away from tests and toward the abilities of students to solve problems, use learning…

There is a need for a set of organizing principles that will provide a clear rationale for the field of program evaluation. It is contended that the concept of evaluation promoted by Ralph W. Tyler, pioneer in the field, suggests such a set of principles. Data were derived from a two-year prescriptive case study of Tyler's contributions through…

The paper reviews cost-effectiveness evaluations of child maltreatment interventions. Though methodologically sound research is limited, existing research suggests that home health visitors, lay group counseling, and family and group therapy are promising interventions. Medical foster care substantially reduces costs, but its effectiveness has not…

The introduction to several articles on measurement issues in supported education for severely handicapped students stresses the importance of measurement in evaluating outcomes and identifying variables responsible for those outcomes. (DB)

Eight subjects participated in a comparison of the multipeak (MPEAK) and spectral peak (SPEAK) speech coding strategies of the Nucleus 22-channel cochlear implant system. Overall, speech recognition performance was significantly higher with the SPEAK strategy than with the MPEAK strategy on all speech tests. (Author)