We interrogate the opportunities and challenges of using mixed methods (MM) within a developmental evaluation (DE) context by drawing on two illustrative cases that investigated educational change in Canada. Methods: Multi-case design and cross-case analysis, with a focus on examining common patterns across the two cases, enabling new ways of…

Cooperative and Work-integrated Education (CWIE) programs have been widely accepted as educational programs that can effectively connect what students are learning to the world of work through placements. Because a global quality standards framework could be a very valuable resource and guide to establishing, developing, and accrediting quality…

Elementary and secondary school curriculum development and implementation in Ontario is guided by pamphlets (curriculum guidelines) from the Ministry of Education. The diverse nature of these pamphlets caused the Ministry to initiate the design of instruments to determine the meaningfulness and effectiveness of the guidelines throughout the…

The sameness of and difference between autobiographical and biographical research methods were studied in this exploration of the researcher's work with six recent female immigrants to Canada, herself and her mother included. The self-study of autobiography and the biographical study of the researcher's mother and four other subjects were similar…

This paper is concerned with the challenges of qualitative research on workplace learning that occurs within co-operative (co-op) education. Co-op education is extensive in Canada, with an estimated 10% of the student population enrolled in co-op secondary education each year. The context for this study was a veterinary clinic in which four co-op…

An evaluation was conducted to determine the outcomes and impacts of participation in the ALBERTA BEST training program in terms of participant attitudes toward service excellence and business profitability. ALBERTA BEST is a customer service program offered by the Alberta (Canada) government. The evaluation involved a series of case studies…

This paper provides an overview of the data collection, analysis, and reporting system of the British Columbia Ministry of Education, a system that is intended to improve the results obtained by the school system. The background of the system is described, and how it is used to assist in school improvement is outlined. The system's success to date…

The advent of the World Wide Web as a platform for the dissemination of survey instruments to diverse populations and the electronic recording of response data has changed the timeliness and cost effectiveness of survey administration. The implications of the new ability to track response behavior patterns will have a major impact on the field of…

In January 1998, seven school boards amalgamated to form the Toronto District School Board, a board responsible for 600 schools. To deal with the complexities of the new entity, researchers have been using geographical information systems (GIS). GIS are computer-based tools for mapping. They store information as a collection of thematic layers or…

Seven Oaks School, a high school in Winnipeg (Canada) recently conducted a followup study of its graduates using a unique approach. High school seniors helped develop the structured interview instrument and carried out the research. As it gathered important information to help the school district in its planning, the study provided students with…

A program review model that can be used at the system level in the Simcoe County in Ontario (Canada) schools is presented. Program review is a process of systematically marshalling information so as to enable individuals to critically debate a specific program and eventually make more informed decisions about the program. A variety of conceptual…

This paper addresses the special problems in assessment of pupils who are congenitally or prelingually deafblind and who may have other disabilities, and argues that nonintrusive instruments and procedures are the assessment tools of choice. It contends that not enough attention has been given to developing, validating, and applying assessment…

A survey was conducted of expert instructional design practitioners about their use of developmental testing and revision procedures. The degree of correspondence was examined between published recommended practice and actual practice, as reported by 90 respondents to a questionnaire. The surveyed sample were members of the National Society for…

The Educational Quality Indicators (EQI) initiative was a collaboration between Alberta Education (Alberta, Canada) and 12 school jurisdictions to develop and implement indicator systems to measure the success of the educational enterprise. Ten concurrent collaborative projects were conducted between 1989 and 1992 to develop indicator systems for…