Sentiment analysis (SA) is the process of identifying and classifying users' opinion from a piece of text into different sentiments. Student's evaluation of teaching is one of the common and necessary measures to assess the teaching quality of course instructors in a college setting. Traditionally, student evaluations are administered towards the…

Teacher candidates bring many beliefs and interpretations of mathematics teaching and learning at the start of their teacher preparation coursework (e.g. methods courses, field experiences, assessment). Well-prepared beginning teachers in many instances requires programs and designed experience to breakdown unproductive beliefs and/or improve…

This article presents the insights gained by individuals involved in designing and implementing an evaluation system for a coalition of Professional Development Schools (PDSs) in rural Alabama. The article begins with a brief overview of the history of PDSs, with a particular emphasis on issues related to establishing quality indicators and…

Stakeholder surveys are advocated as a panacea for many problems of needs assessment evaluation research utilizing surveys. Stakeholders are individuals who have a "stake" in the outcome of a needs assessment evaluation. Stakeholder surveys are appropriate for the predesign phase of a program evaluation. The surveys are often referred to…

Post-tenure faculty evaluation policies in all public four-year colleges and universities in Alabama were studied. A total of 420 tenured and nontenured full-time faculty and tenured and nontenured administrators were administered questionnaires. A total of 68.8 percent of administrator respondents revealed that they had written policies to…

This study, undertaken in the summer of 1986, was to develop a comprehensive evaluation and needs assessment for the Alabama Judicial College. Qualitative research techniques (participant observation and in-depth interviewing) were applied to collect the necessary data. Judicial employees were observed in courtroom, office, training and social…

In 1995, Alabama joined many other states in passing mandatory character education as a response to violence in schools. Although the "Virtue of the Week" program had been implemented in Alabama schools for several years, little evaluation has been done to measure its effectiveness. In spring 2001, a study was carried out to analyze the…

This paper reports on a study conducted for the Alabama State Department of Education. The study's purpose was to provide a clear perspective on the current abilities of school leaders to provide technology leadership in schools and school districts. All district superintendents and school principals who attended (N=341) the Alabama Renaissance…

Targets of educational reform in the United States have included classroom teachers, students, and school structure. Increasingly, nonstructural aspects of schooling are being examined as avenues to educational improvement. The purpose of this study was to investigate differences among professional staff members' perceptions of being in a…

This paper assesses the attitudes of multiple stakeholders toward competencies for public-school leaders in Alabama. It examines the views of various groups in the state's education system--teachers, parents, practitioners, and professors of educational leadership--to determine differences in perceptions regarding the perceived importance of…

Did the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) ask eighth grade science teachers the right questions about their use of instructional time? TIMSS asked teachers to recall a lesson that they had taught, and then group activities into 11 categories. This study examined the TIMSS question "How did the lesson proceed?" by…

This paper presents the case study of an attempt to bridge the gap between teacher and administrator preparation programs at Auburn University, Alabama, while engaging students in authentic learning situations at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Lee County. The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Lee County serves 600 youth during the school year and…

This evaluation of mini-conferences conducted for Alabama teachers who completed training in the 1996 Summer Space Orientation for Professional Educators (SOPE) examines the effectiveness of follow-up sessions for teachers (N=69) and provides baseline data on teachers' knowledge of and attitudes toward teaching science. Conclusions about the 1996…

In spite of their limitations, readability formulas can help teachers determine whether there are differences between students' reading abilities and the difficulty levels of the textbooks they are required to use. A study was conducted to assess the reading levels of students and the readability levels of textbooks at five selected junior…

This report presents the evaluation results gathered from a 2-year study of a drug prevention program involving a consortia of nine colleges and universities located in Alabama and Florida. The consortia effort was intended to: (1) strengthen their respective drug prevention activities; (2) develop policies governing alcohol and drugs; (3)…