These sums, though substantial, represent less than one-fourth of one percent of the estimated total appropriation for OE in Fiscal Year 1978. C. Evaluation Strategy of the Office of Planning, Budgeting and Evaluation The U.S. Office of education is responsible for administering or monitoring approximately 100 programs which provide funds, materials, teachers and other staff, training activities, and technical assistance in support of all levels of public and private education across the country. In carrying out its responsibilities, OE spent more than $10 billion during Fiscal Year 1978, employed approximately 3,300 persons at headquarters in Washington, D.C. and at its 10 regional offices. More important, OE programs and resources have affected the activities of more than 2 million teachers and administrators at all levels of education, and the learning experiences of a high percentage of the more than 70 million persons, young and no longer young, who were the clients of America's educational institutions. Most of OE's programs, in terms of numbers of programs and projects, numbers of student and teacher participants, and numbers of dollars spent, are directed at persons who may be generally defined as "disadvantaged." The term applies to children and adults who typically do not or cannot succeed in the traditional educational system and programs. The causes of these difficulties are many and are often reinforcing. Physical or mental handicaps which are clinically definable require special programs and services, often supported with Federal funds, to enable the handicapped person to acquire appropriate knowledge and skills toward as satisfying and self-supporting a life as possible. A background of poverty, of isolation as a member of a minority ethnic or linguistic group, and of early failure at school frequently results in patterns of accelerating failure, withdrawal from school, unemployment or a series of low-paying, low-prestige jobs, and difficulties in continuing one's education or in gaining access to the formal educational system in later years. Here again, the Federal response has been to create special programs and services designed to assist the economically or educationally disadvantaged person to stay in school, to receive greater benefits from the educational system as indicated by improved achievement, motivation, and attitudes, to overcome the financial barriers to postsecondary education, or to re-enter the system whenever appropriate. Here again, the intention is to help people acquire knowledge and skills to the maximum of their learning potential and interest, toward as satisfying and useful a life as possible. Given the wide financial and human impact of OE's programs, these important questions emerge as the basis for OE's evaluation strategy: 1. What effect do specific federal programs in education 2. What improvements should be made in the management and administration of those programs? 3. What improvements may be made in the instructional activities? 4. What particularly effective projects, products, pro- disseminated? 5. 6. What improvements may be made in the delivery of financial aid and other services to students to increase their entrance and retention rates in postsecondary education? What improvements should be made in evaluation itself programs and projects, and may take action to improve those activities? With these questions to answer and within the limits of staff and funds available to answer them, the evaluation strategy in years past has emphasized impact studies which are designed to measure the effect of programs and projects upon participants. Such studies will continue to be the major component of the OE evaluation strategy, because of the information they provide to the Congress and to the Executive Branch on program effectiveness, on program management, on project instructional activities, and on particularly effective activities that could be disseminated to others. Some of these studies are mandated by the Congress in program legislation. A second and growing component of the strategy consists of process studies aimed at providing information and recommendations to program managers on the characteristics and problems of OE programs as they operate through projects in the field. Most of these studies are requested by OE managers themselves during the lengthy process of planning and negotiations leading to the Annual Evaluation Plan. Some are mandated by the Congress in program legislation. A third component of the strategy is the provision of technical assistance to States and to local districts in evaluation itself. Most of this activity responds to the mandate for the ESEA Title I program in P.L. 93-380, Section 151. It includes Technical Assistance Centers in evaluation, workshops, and a monograph series on recommended evaluation practices. Other activities of this component are conducted under the "Packaging and Dissemination" Program. A fourth component of the strategy is the identification of effective projects and practices developed under OE programs. This component may include the development of "models" or detailed descriptions of the essential characteristics of such projects or practices, designed to help education in the field to develop similar projects or practices. Model development is particularly active for the ESEA Title I program in response to the mandate of P.L. 93-380, Section 151. The development of detailed, comprehensive Project Information Packages under the "Packaging and Dissemination" Program is another important activity of this component. In summary, OPBE's evaluation strategy includes implementation of Congressional mandates, conduct of program impact studies, meeting information needs of OE program managers, provision of technical assistance in evaluation to the field, studies to identify effective program services, and practices or projects for improvement of program operations and for dissemination to the field. |