A program evaluation unit was established in the Louisiana Department of Education. A unit capable of measuring and assuring the effectiveness of several programs and projects either operating or proposed was desired. The Department responded to requests to implement program evaluations. Many requests were from program administrators who needed…

The goal of the Michigan plan for school staff development is to clearly describe a comprehensive approach to staff development. The plan relies on two basic assumptions. The first is that local school staff should be involved in the planning process. The second is that the state has a unique and specific role to play in facilitating quality…

State education agencies are organizing and developing programs that increasingly recognize the difference between the following types of state education productivity systems: (1) distributing money for productivity in education to be defined and implemented at the local level within "state minimum standards" regulated by the state…

Kentucky's systemic reform initiative has been heralded as one of the more comprehensive and well-sustained reforms in recent history. To evaluate the course of this reform, the challenges associated with researching and evaluating a statewide systemic reform effort are detailed here. By using a description of the politics of evaluating systemic…

The Colorado Department of Education undertook the establishment of an educational quality database that would contain the information necessary for measuring the effects of various efforts at educational improvement. Five major planning concerns had to be resolved before the database itself could be established. First, it was determined that…

The politics of assessment in New Jersey are examined in this study. Two basic questions addressed are: (1) what roles did competing interest groups play in the development and utilization of statewide assessment? and (2) has the controversy over the Educational Assessment Program (EAP) changed the impact of any of these groups on the future…

In 1982 vocational schools participated in Pennsylvania's state assessment program, the Educational Quality Assessment (EQA). When EQA data were tabulated, the vocational school scores were low in comparison to the comprehensive high school scores. An analysis of the vocational school and comprehensive high school scores using state assessment…

The Ministry of Education in the state of Victoria, Australia, prepared six papers outlining new educational policies in the early 1980s. To encourage local implementation of the recommendations contained in the sixth paper, "Curriculum Development and Planning in Victoria," the ministry's Curriculum Branch is writing 10 "curriculum…

NIE's State Capacity Building Program in Dissemination supports the development of comprehensive programs in State Education Agencies. The nature of the dissemination capacity is reflected in goals of providing greater access to information resources for educators, and realization of increased coordination among activities of SEAs. Each SEA…

The approach of Georgia's career education program is one in which the state leadership serves first as a catalyst in stimulating local educators to re-examine the educational needs of their students, and second, as a source of assistance to local educators as they think through, within the context of their local environments, the changes they…

California state officials vary in their perceptions of the functions and uses of state Department of Education evaluations, according to state legislators, legislative staff members, department administrators, and outside evaluators whose opinions were gathered through interviews and at a 1981 symposium. Highlighted here are the legislators'…

A set of procedures were developed for evaluating the State Capacity Building Programs; (SCBP), state projects for increasing facilities for the dissemination of information related to education. Six scales were developed, based on questionnaire items, to evaluate the following six facets of state information-dissemination systems: comprehensive…

South Carolina's approach to teacher certification testing is presented. The teacher certification program is a combination of National Teacher Examination (NTE) requirements and Act 187 requirements. NTE's have been administered in South Carolina to certify teachers since 1945 and are administered in 45 teaching areas. In August 1979, Act 187 was…

Educators in New Jersey who had joined forces as the New Jersey Consortium for Global Education in order to submit a joint Title-IV C global education proposal with the New Jersey Department of Education experienced two major conflicts when their project was funded. The first conflict involved a difference of perception on the nature and role of…

The evaluation of federal programs such as the migrant education program causes a dilemma for state education agencies. The law places the prime responsibility for establishing, and accounting for, quality programs on state and local education agencies. However, no explicit directive requires that this be done in a uniform manner. A lack of…