Scientifically based research used to inform evidence based school reform efforts has been required by the federal government in order to receive grant funding since the reenactment of No Child Left Behind (2002). Educational evaluators are thus faced with the challenge to use rigorous research designs to establish causal relationships. However,…

Beginning in 2002, The Chicago Community Trust embarked on an ambitious grant- making strategy to improve education outcomes primarily in the city of Chicago and Cook County, Illinois. Known as The Education Initiative, this effort focused on three priority grant areas: literacy, professional development, and alternative models of schools. In…

A certain level of turnover can be expected in any well-managed organization; however, the alarming attrition rate facing the educational system requires national action. Organizations generally do not strive to attain zero turnover because a small amount of turnover is expected due to retirement and those who sincerely believe they are not a…

In March 1995 the Ohio General Assembly enacted a Pilot Project Scholarship Program intended to provide a limited number of vouchers to allow Cleveland public school students to attend alternative schools, i.e. private schools, including those operated by religious organizations, within the Cleveland city limits and public schools in surrounding…

The author describes potential evaluation capacity-building activities in contrast to the specifics of an evaluation design. Her response to the case of the Bunche-Da Vinci Learning Partnership Academy is developed in three parts: (1) an initial framing of the Bunche-Da Vinci situation; (2) what should be done before signing a contract; and (3)…

This report summarizes an assessment effort that began in the summer of 1990 and completed its first year in the summer of 1991. It is the initial stage of a longitudinal study that focuses on the academic achievement and attitudes of students in the St. Louis (Missouri) metropolitan court-ordered desegregation program administered by the…

The preliminary results of four of six research methodologies used to evaluate a professional development curriculum in an urban school are described and reported. The paper begins with a discussion of the social systems model underlying the project, a brief summary of the transactional evaluation scheme used to direct research efforts, a…