The changing nature of technical assistance activities and evaluation for compensatory education programs was discussed. The emphasis is on the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA) Chapter 1 Technical Assistance Centers (TAC) and their clients. Improvement of school practices demands that the technical assistance process be developed…

Institutional research at the University of California at Berkeley on graduate student attrition is discussed, focusing on when students in a given discipline are likely to leave a program and factors to which departments attribute attrition. Recommendations for increasing retention are offered, including institutional policies and strategies,…

This paper presents results of a study examining the relationship between the American Board of Surgery's In-Training Examination and its Qualifying Examination. 1982 Test scores on both examinations of 764 candidates in their fifth year of training as Chief Residents were analyzed. Descriptive statistics, correlations, and standard errors were…

This paper describes an evaluation model developed by the Ontario Ministry of Education and illustrates how it was adapted to meet local and provincial needs of the Scarborough School System for accountability data and direction for change. The basic Cooperative Evaluation and Development of School Systems (CEDSS) model includes five stages of…

Program improvement activities can be classified into four categories based on the source of the impetus and the locus of the change agent: systematic, symbolic, opportunistic, and pragmatic. This paper (1) describes the various approaches to implementing Chapter 1 program improvement activities at the state and local district levels in 13 western…

This paper gives a brief historical account of Wisconsin's Cooperative Educational Service Agencies (CESA's) and the need for changes, outlines some of the recommendations of a CESA fact-finding task force, and describes the current transition period. The first section describes the background and legislative history of the CESA, followed by an…

A study of 1,261 doctoral students in chemistry, civil engineering, microbiology, and sociology investigated student experiences with research, employment, and personal misconduct in academic departments, including the effects of departmental structure, department climate, and academic discipline. No disciplinary differences were found, but…

Maintains that a more thorough understanding of the complex relationship between state government and local schools would greatly benefit arts educators. Presents an examination of the structure of this relationship in Massachusetts as a model. Examines government funding, staffing, delegation of powers, and various shared responsibilities. (MJP)

The research described in this paper examines the relationship between raters and the training raters receive to apply that rating. The primary concern is maintaining scoring consistency within the context of raters' perceptions. If the criteria for holistic and/or analytic scoring can be recognized as communication based, rather than topic based,…

This paper briefly presents a history of comprehensive examinations in higher education in the United States, characteristics of comprehensive exams, and the use of such exams in assessing program quality. This paper then focuses on the experience of 11 program faculties at the University of Tennessee (Knoxville), that developed and used exit…

Describes the impact in Colorado of the shift from categorical federal aid to block grants under the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act. Covers Colorado education's demographic, socioeconomic, and political context; variations in program impact among school districts; the shift's effects on redistribution of federal aid; and selected…

Examines survey responses from 218 U.S. and Canadian sociology departments on the nature of teacher training for graduate students. Reveals that teacher training is consistently subordinated to research skills instruction. Posits a concurring devaluation of teaching among sociologists. Includes survey instrument, schools queried, and statistical…

As a step in considering the addition of dropout statistics to the Common Core of Data (CCD) collected by the National Center for Education Statistics, telephone and personal interviews about the feasibility of implementing a standard national dropout statistics collection were conducted. Interviews were held from May through September of 1990…

The Minnesota Dialogue on Education project was a comprehensive statewide survey of public opinion on educational issues conducted by the Minnesota Department of Education from September 1983 through February 1984. The project involved dissemination of 250,000 copies of a Dialogue on Education Study Guide with a questionnaire attached, followed by…

Institutional research that focuses on professional development is addressed in 35 papers from the 1982 meeting of the North East Association for Institutional Research. Titles and authors include the following: "Modeling College Student Adjustment and Retention for the Individual Institution" (Norman D. Aitken); "The Development…