The FNS Research Corner provides a continuing series to summarize recently completed and current research conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in the area of child nutrition. Summaries of recently completed research projects and in-progress research are provided in this article.

A decade ago, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, along with the Ford and Annenberg Foundations, undertook a reform initiative, Teachers for a New Era (TNE). The goal of the TNE was to "stimulate construction of excellent teacher education programs at selected colleges and universities"(Carnegie Corporation of New York, 2001, p. 1). As…

This article describes lessons learned about implementing evaluations in hospital settings. In order to overcome the methodological dilemmas inherent in this environment, we used a practical participatory evaluation (P-PE) strategy to engage as many stakeholders as possible in the process of evaluating a clinical demonstration project.…

This interim report, part of a series of documents examining the feasibility of the longitudinal evaluation of Project Developmental Continuity (PDC), presents the results of an analysis of PDC impact at the Head Start level, using Spring 1977 data. PDC is a Head Start Demonstration Program aimed at providing educational and developmental…

In 1988, whether the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)--the "Nation's Report Card"--could become a report card for the states was studied. A trial assessment program was authorized to determine whether state assessments following the NAEP format could produce reliable and useful estimates of educational progress. This…

A study examined the objectives of supported employment programs for individuals with severe disabilities and identified performance measures to document the practices and achievements of such programs at the federal, state, and local levels. A set of proposed data items and potential performance measures was developed on the basis of programs…

The National Reporting System project was designed to establish an outcome-based accountability system for the state-administered, federally funded adult education program. In the pilot test, volunteer states and their local programs compared the feasibility and costs of these three data collection models: (1) local programs collect all the…

A five-year study was undertaken to investigate the relative effectiveness of pre-retirement education (PRE) programs. Project staff identified for study three methodologies (the lecture series, the discussion group, and the "facilitated interaction" model) and four contexts for sponsor-settings (the employer, the education, the…

A study was conducted from March 1976 through June 1980 on the application and feasibility of a computer micro-system as an interactive tutorial instructional tool in a self-contained classroom. Literature on computer assisted instruction (CAI), hardware, and software was examined. Individualized CAI materials for industrial arts and technology…

The original version of this report dealt with the feasibility of a longitudinal design for studying the effects of preceptorships on medical students' career choices. The present document supplements the original report, focuses on various non-longitudinal designs, and assesses their suitability for providing the type of information required for…

Models used for evaluating teacher education programs are described, particularly the learner referencing educational evaluation model. This model involves ten stages: (1) acquisition of possible teacher training program standards; (2) verification of those standards; (3) generation of specific learner objectives; (4) processing of learner…