In January 2016, the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) commenced an 18-month project to study the implementation of California's Adult Education Block Grant (AEBG) initiative. AEBG's purpose is "to improve coordination and better serve the needs of adult learners within each region." CLASP set out to foster greater understanding…

One objective of the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) School Improvement Grants (SIG) and Race to the Top (RTT) program is to help states enhance their capacity to support the turnaround of low-performing schools. This capacity may be important, given how difficult it is to produce substantial and sustained achievement gains in low-performing…

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Technical Assistance and Dissemination (TA&D) Program is the U.S. Department of Education's (ED) primary vehicle for providing technical assistance (TA) to individuals and organizations responsible for serving children with disabilities and their families. The evaluation is part…

The Regional Educational Laboratories (RELs) are a networked system of 10 organizations that serve the educational needs of 10 designated regions across the United States and its territories. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is authorized by the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA) to award contracts to 10 RELs to support applied research,…

This first of two reports presents early findings from the National Evaluation of the Comprehensive Technical Assistance Centers (Comprehensive Centers), a federally funded program that provides technical assistance to states in connection with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001. The law authorizing the Comprehensive Centers, the…

The Rural and Low-Income School (RLIS) program is part of the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) that was authorized under Title VI, Part B of the "Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965" ("ESEA"), as amended by the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" ("NCLB"). The RLIS program provides additional funds…

In order to investigate what types of training and technical assistance (TA) are needed by Early Head Start programs in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin (EHS Waves I & II), particularly with regard to children with special needs, the Great Lakes Quality Improvement Center for Disabilities (GLQIC-D) and the Region V…

This report presents the deliberations of the Northwest Regional Advisory Committee (NW RAC), one of 10 RACs established under the Educational Technical Assistance Act of 2002 to assess the educational needs of the region. The Northwest RAC accepted its charge to identify educational needs and to make recommendations, working collaboratively as…

Designed for use in a workshop entitled, "Organizing Information," this handbook provides a kit of materials for monitoring a Title I evaluation and for providing evaluation technical assistance. The handbook is divided into four sections. There are checklists which can be used to gather needed information to monitor programs. Facts and…

The report summarizes findings from a needs assessment survey of 16 precollege schools and programs to assess needs in the field of education. Four areas of service which precollege programs could provide were identified: curriculum development, materials development, technical assistance, and inservice training. Among findings were that…

Two surveys were conducted to identify the educational research and development needs of the area served by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. The first was a survey completed by 1,884 (29.1%) educators in the region, and the second was a telephone survey of 400 households. This report concentrates on the responses of educators. Four…

The Great Lakes Quality Improvement Center for Disabilities (GLQIC-D) serves Head Start programs in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin, and conducts an annual needs assessment of these programs. For the 1998-99 assessment, 229 Head Start directors completed the survey, which gathered information regarding: (1) program…

This study sought to identify resources available and training/technical assistance needs of personnel employed by projects serving American Indians and Alaska Natives under the provisions of Section 130 of the Rehabilitation Act. Section 130 authorizes funding of vocational rehabilitation service grants to the governing bodies of Indian tribes on…

This paper describes a needs assessment instrument that is intended to effectively communicate recommended practice ideas for serving children with disabilities to teachers, families, and service delivery personnel. The instrument is in the form of a quality indicators checklist and utilizes 143 statements of recommended practice. The inclusion of…

The Comprehensive Services Program of Palm Beach County, Florida, was an ambitious and innovative effort to improve the school readiness of low-income children in Palm Beach County by identifying needs early and providing early intervention services to support physical, cognitive, and emotional health and development. Services were delivered to…