Establishment of a Technical Assistance Unit (TAU) is one of several work components of the Field Relations and Dissemination Work Unit of the Improving Teaching Competencies Program (ITCP) of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory in fiscal year 1976. The purpose of establishing the TAU as an adjunct to other ITCP activities is to make…

Many school systems, in both the developed and developing world, are implementing educational technology to assist in student learning. However, there is no clear consensus on how to evaluate these new technologies. This paper proposes a comprehensive methodology for estimating the value of a new educational technology in three steps: benefit…

This report summarizes a study to assess the feasibility and desirability of obtaining training feedback information from petty officers attending advanced schools within the Naval Education and Training Command. Section 1 is an introduction. Section 2 presents the technical approach used in the study program, including clarification of issues…

A study of the "efficiency and efficacy" of evaluation practices of the Illinois Division of Vocational and Technical Education as conducted by Educational Testing Service is reported on. The study was directed toward understanding how evaluation practices of the Division, with largest emphasis upon the performance of the Three Phase System used…

Air Force investigators conducted a three year program to develop a capability for automated quantification and assessment of in-flight pilot performance. Such a capability enhances pilot training by making ratings more objective, valid, reliable and sensitive, and by freeing instructors from rating responsibilities, allowing them to concentrate…

Five models of program evaluation--needs assessment, feasibility study, process evaluation, outcome evaluation, and cost analysis--are described, and how they differ from research is explained. Six groups of stakeholders are identified, reasons for doing evaluations are discussed, qualitative and quantitative methods are described, five stages of…

Purpose: We describe the results of the dissemination of an efficacious, home-based exercise program called Strong for Life as it was implemented in a nationwide, volunteer caregiving program called Faith in Action, including training of volunteers who implemented the program, recruitment of older adult participants, exercise adherence, and…

Volume 1 of this study describes and costs two possible satellite networks which could be used in education in Canada. In order to determine whether these networks were plausible or useful, a letter and a description of the two hypothetical networks (Volume 2) were sent, before the cost study was completed, to all Canadian universities and…

This report presents the results of a 1,044-person survey taken to determine public attitudes towards the concept of year-round schools in Guam. The study indicates the people of Guam will support a pilot 45-15 plan for two years in three elementary schools; and that variables such as sex, nationality, determination of leave schedules, and desire…

In November 1984, the Rand Corporation was asked by the Annenberg/Corporation for Public Broadcasting (A/CPB) Project to conduct a study during the spring 1985 school semester on the feasibility of evaluating student outcomes from A/CPB telecourses. This report documents the findings of that study, which had three goals: (1) to examine alternative…

Self-formative evaluation is a unique form of formative evaluation which refers to the involvement of both the producer and the users in the evaluation of newly developed instructional materials; it does not indicate evaluation of themselves. This examination of the feasibility of employing this evaluation technique during the process of…

Psychometric evaluations of the assessment center method of personnel selection have consistently shown positive results. However, this approach ignores certain external parameters (e.g., selection ratio, cost of the procedure) which largely determine the overall utility of a selection device. Moreover, the psychometric evaluation approach ignores…

This report describes the procedures followed and the recommendations made by a committee formed to study the possibility of initiating some type of merit pay plan in the Wichita, Kansas public school system. Although the committee made efforts to select school systems of 50,000-77,000 enrollments that had installed merit pay plans, they failed to…

Reports on a pilot project which examined the feasibility of introducing a quality assurance system, originally developed in the United Kingdom, in Turkish universities. Although a convergence between systems was observed, there emerged significant cultural, structural, political, and technical issues that affected the transfer fo the UK system to…

This publication contains the reports for six Iowa Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment System (CASAS) pilot projects conducted at the following community colleges: Northeast Iowa Community College, Eastern Iowa Community College, Kirkwood Community College, Western Iowa Tech Community College, Indian Hills Community College, and Southeastern…