William E. Bickel

Teachers and Researchers in Collaboration: Reflections on the Process

This research describes a 54-month National Science Foundation-supported collaboration, the Thinking Mathematics Project, between the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) of the University of Pittsburgh wherein expert teachers and cognitive researchers sought to codify the best of clinical and research knowledge on student learning and instruction for mathematics in the early grades. The authors draw on their documentation of the development of the collaboration between these two organizations and the teachers and researchers involved to provide highlights of participants’ reflections of the collaborative experience. Lessons about what works and what doesn’t when teachers and researchers attempt to build a common learning community are described.

Decision-oriented educational research

I Background.- 1 Educational Research and Educational Systems.- 2 The Pittsburgh Experience.- II Generalizations About Decision-Oriented Educational Research.- 3 Client Orientation.- 4 The Importance of Being Methodologically Eclectic.- 5 Monitoring Indicators and Tailoring Practice.- 6 Computer-Based Information Systems.- 7 Program Documentation.- 8 Understanding Achievement Test Results.- 9 Utilization and the Role of the Dissemination Process.- 10 Summary, Conclusions, and Implications.- III The Case Histories.- Case History 1 Elementary School Achievement Study.- Case History 2 Achievement Implications of Grade Reorganization.- Case History 3 Evaluation of Project Pass.- Case History 4 A District-Wide Needs Assessment.- Case History 5 Documenting the Development of a School Improvement Program.- Case History 6 Title I Program for Secondary Students.- Case History 7 Middle-School Needs Assessment.- Case History 8 Computer-Based Information Systems.- Case History 9 Documenting the Development of a Secondary Teacher Center.- Case History 10 The Use of Achievement Test Results in Personnel Evaluation.- Case History 11 Selection of a New Reading Program.- References.

Effective Schools: Knowledge, Dissemination, Inquiry

have become pivotal concerns in the work of a growing number of educational researchers and practitioners during the past decade. This activity has generated a rich literature describing the characteristics of effective schools (Benbow, 1980; Berliner, 1982; Clark, Lotto & McCarthy, 1980; Cohen, 1982; MacKenzie, 1982; Madaus, Airasian, & Kellaghan, 1980; Purkey & Smith, 1983). It has also stimulated the development of a wide variety of state and local school improvement programs designed to disseminate characteristics of effectiveness to schools in

Adaptive Capacity in Israeli Social Change Nonprofits

Adaptive capacity, considered one of the essential organizational capacities for enabling nonprofits to achieve their missions, requires nonprofits to act as learning organizations and to use evaluation as a tool to enhance organizational learning and performance. Nonprofits at the start-up or growth phase face a particular set of challenges in maintaining their adaptive capacity. A theoretical framework for assessing a nonprofits organizational readiness to improve its adaptive capacity was developed and applied to 10 emerging social change nonprofits in Israel. The results demonstrate the utility of the conceptual framework while providing insight into the day-to-day realities of organizational life that help to shape the adaptive capacity of the 10 nonprofits in the sample. Key issues relating to the adaptive capacity of the nonprofits and their particular stage of organizational development also are raised.

Using Recommendations in Evaluation: A Decision-Making Framework for Evaluators.

Is it appropriate and useful for evaluators to use findings to make recommendations? If so, under what circumstances? How specific should they be? This article presents a decision-making framework for the appropriateness of recommendations in varying contexts. On the basis of reviews of evaluation theory, selected evaluation reports, and feedback from American Evaluation Association presentations, the authors present a description of contextual variables likely to affect the making of recommendations (e.g., use context, evaluator role) and a typology of potential recommendations. To enhance the utility of the tools presented, the authors summarize the available literature and present key arguments for and against the provision of various types of recommendations in given contexts. This work is designed to be a step toward creating a more systematic process for considering the use of recommendations by providing evaluators with a comprehensive tool for reflection and decision making.

Building formal knowledge bases: Understanding evaluation use in the foundation community

In this article, we review 13 empirical studies that investigate the use of evaluation by foundations and highlight issues surrounding evaluation use in this context. After describing what is known in light of these studies, we discuss issues that warrant further investigation. We then report on preliminary findings from an ongoing study of evaluation use in small and mid-sized foundations which is being conducted as part of the University of Pittsburgh-Lilly Endowment evaluation partnership. We conclude by raising some questions that need to be addressed more rigorously by both the foundation and evaluation communities if we are to collectively improve the use of evaluation by one of our countrys more important and powerful resources: foundations.

Decision-oriented educational research in school districts: The role of dissemination processes

Abstract This article addresses the broad issue of how research information can be integrated into the policy and decision processes of educational systems. Our specific foci here is on one type of educational system -- school districts; on research designed to answer specific questions for that district; and, on one major element of the research process -- dissemination. This paper draws heavily upon our experiences in a large, urban American school district, where we work on the problem of how to improve the systems evaluation research capability. This work began in 1978 and continues today. This article has four major section. Background is provided on the nature of the collaboration with the school district. Then, basic strategies for conducting decision-oriented educational research that have emerged from the work are described briefly. This is followed by a discussion of the broad issue of research use. The final section is a detailed review of what we have learned about the relationship between dissemination and utilization.

A case study of institutional collaboration to enhance knowledge use: Restructuring practitioner-researcher dialogue in education

The research reported herein was supported by funds from The National Science Foundation. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the National Science Foundation and no official endorsement should be inferred.

Evaluator in Residence: New Prospects for School District Evaluation Research:

This paper describes what can happen when an evaluation research capability is used to document the design and implementation of two complex educational improvement programs in a large urban school district. The research strategy of program documentation and the functions fulfilled by a resident evaluator that emerged from this work are of interest for two reasons. First, these strategies and functions can assist district managers in insuring that locally developed educational reform efforts reach their fullest potential. Second, they can help district evaluators increase the utility of their research activities for decisionmakers. This paper will describe the research context for this work, the origins of the role of resident evaluator in each program, and the broad functions of the role of resident evaluator. Finally, several factors contributing to the usefulness of this approach will be discussed.

The Pittsburgh Experience

We have been able to investigate strategies for improving the methods and uses of DOER by actually conducting research in collaboration with a large urban school district. The district did not have its own research office at the time these investigations began. Our collaboration with the Pittsburgh public schools provided the opportunity to conduct research in a school district setting in order to learn more about district information needs and to test research strategies that could increase the validity and utility of those research activities.