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This paper illustrates several collaborative program evaluation models and designs used in Newark, New Jersey, public schools since a state takeover in 1995. As part of its comprehensive design for school reform, the school district developed collaborations with community partners to provide direct services to schools. Each evaluation combined varied data and mixed methods across the research process. Using qualitative and quantitative methods allows for multiple lenses and contributes to meaningful tracking of program implementation, exploration of program models, and validations of important program outcomes. The research process in all studies involved multistage designs with formative and summative components, varied partnership participation and perspectives, and flexibility in planning. The programs evaluated are: (1) Principals' Leadership Institute, a professional development program for teachers; (2) Project Grad-Newark, a program focusing on academic success through whole school improvement; (3) New Beginnings Kindergarten Program, an effort to restructure kindergartens; (4) School Based Health Care Clinics; and (5) 21st Century Community Learning Centers, extended-day academic and enrichment programs. These evaluations show how exploratory and confirmatory investigations using multiple techniques can strengthen design, analysis, and inference, as well as improve conceptual clarity, flexibility, comprehensiveness, scientific rigor, and efficiency. One appendix contains diagrams of collaboration models, and the other contains examples of program evaluation products. (Contains 15 references.) (SLD)

This study investigated factors impinging upon the successful implementation of reform in New Jersey's special needs or Abbott districts. Surveys of 28 Abbott districts examined the extent to which districts embraced remedial measures in the Supreme Court's rulings; perceived compatibility between remedial measures embodied in the reform and prior reform initiatives; level of civic support for the reform; current status of the districts' implementation efforts and resource constraints; perceptions of support from New Jersey's Department of Education (NJDOE); and expressed confidence that factors crucial to bringing about improvement in the educational systems were being critically addressed by the reforms. Overall, districts supported the Supreme Court's remedial mandates, though there was some resistance to reallocating existing funds to support the reform. Nearly half perceived considerable compatibility between the state's implementation directives and some of their prior reform activities. Levels of civic support were uneven. Districts and schools experienced severe capacity problems during the first year of implementation because they had very little time to engage in the necessary capacity building activities. Districts perceived the NJDOE's support to be inadequate. Funds, problems with the NJDOE, and time were the three most serious impediments to implementing reform. The survey instrument is appended. (Contains 47 references.) (SM)

In 1996, a major overhaul in the delivery of professional development for administrators was undertaken in the urban school district under study. A Principal Leadership Institute was created and the 182 principals and vice-principals of the district were randomly assigned to 8 cohorts, each of which was affiliated with 1 of the 8 universities and colleges with a contract with the district for professional development services. The expressed needs of the administrators participating, the effectiveness of the school-university collaboration, and insights for future professional development were studied. Administrators were interviewed 3 times over 2 years, with response rates of 55 to 65%. The study finds that urban administrators have a wide variety of needs that they seek to have met through professional development opportunities. Educational administration programs at the college level cannot prepare administrators adequately for their complex roles, so that the need for continuous professional development becomes paramount. The lack of a coherent focus in this principal development institute created problems that were compounded by the competing notions of leadership advanced by the eight universities. Administrators found it difficult to translate the information they received into practice. (Contains 5 tables and 24 references.) (SLD)

In 1991, the Newark School District (New Jersey), through the partnership of the Newark Teachers' Union and Montclair State University, established the first professional development school (PDS) in the city. Used primarily as a center for retooling elementary grade teachers in grades 6, 7, and 8, the school has come to play a pivotal role in the school district's reshaping of current staff development programs. Since 1991, 205 teachers have participated in PDS training. This report presents the results from the first formal evaluation of the program. In general, findings suggest the promising potential of the PDS model through its impact on teacher attitudes and behaviors as well as student performance. However, the degree of success of the PDS is significantly attenuated by several problems: (1) the fragmentation of policies as they relate to wider attempts to introduce change within the school system; (2) an insufficiency in the diversity and flexibility of the model to accommodate the different needs of teachers and schools; and (3) a follow-up plan that is not sufficiently thorough to confront the problems teachers encounter once they return to their home schools. At present, these problems hinder the ability of the PDS model to generate fundamental and sustaining changes in the caliber of the district's teaching force. An appendix contains scales and subscales from the PDS teacher surveys. (Contains 10 tables, 3 figures, and 26 references.) (Author/SLD)

The Cluster Schools Program attempted to restructure the governance structure in participating Newark (New Jersey) schools through shared decision making and site-based management. It also sought to foster strong links with other public and private institutions by establishing a collaborative that includes university participants among others. This report presents results of the first evaluation of program impact on the 10 participant schools. The evaluation relied on perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of major participants. Questionnaires were completed by 4 central office personnel, 21 administrators, 187 teachers, and 274 parents. Highlights of findings are presented in the following areas: (1) the impact of organizational changes on schools; (2) the central office team; (3) endorsement of site-based management; (4) the level of involvement of schools and faculties in major program initiatives; (5) teacher perceptions of the impact of the Cluster Schools Program on bringing about change in the schools; and (6) the impact on student achievement. Highlighted findings underscore the need for the school district to look critically at the restructuring effort. Recommendations emphasize the importance of enhancing impact on the instructional program. Sixteen tables and four figures illustrate the evaluation. Three appendixes list collaborators, contain the study instruments, and give an achievement profile for cluster schools. (SLD)

The Newark (New Jersey) School District's Twice-Retained Program was evaluated for 1985-86. This alternative program was designed for students in grades 1 through 8 who had a history of two or more grade retentions. It emphasized instruction in reading and mathematics and evaluated the pre- and post-program performance in those areas, as well as on scales of affective and social development. Other variables included classroom setting (heterogeneous or homogeneous grouping), teacher expectations, degree of implementation of the curriculum model, and recency of retention. The program was based on Madeline Hunter's Instructional Theory into Practice (ITIP), which emphasizes: (1) selecting learning at the correct level of difficulty; (2) teaching to the objective; (3) monitoring learning and adjusting the teaching; and (4) using the principles of learning. Results showed that classification into the Twice-Retained program benefited students more in mathematics than in reading, where achievement declined in the higher grades. Also, mathematics achievement was higher in the homogeneously grouped classes. More benefit accrued when the academic retention was recent, and when the students were in the earlier grades (in reading). On the affective measures, students who were heterogeneously grouped fared better than those homogeneously grouped, suggesting an adverse effect of labeling retained students. (JGL)

The Helping Hands Project (HHP) is a program that aims at improving achievement in reading comprehension and in math problem-solving by helping the classroom teacher sustain instructional intensity. Implemented in grades four and six in two Newark School District elementary schools, HHP involved five teachers and 117 students. Ninety-two percent of the participants had an ethnic minority background (Black, Hispanic, Portuguese). The introductory chapter of this evaluation report discusses the need for the program, presents all the elements that form the core of HHP, and reviews the stages of implementation. Chapters 2 and 3 explain the resulting impact on math concepts/applications and reading comprehension respectively. Chapter 4 examines the degree of adjustment to school as reflected in peer acceptance, attendance pattern, student turnover or transiency, and achievement. Chapter 5 attempts to clarify some of the strategies (with their attendant difficulties) used by students in processing information and solving problems. The final chapter shows how this project can contribute to the solution of some of the school district's problems and charts new directions for educational improvement. The appendix contains the Awards Certificate, the Friendship Test, the Bi-Weekly-Progress Report Form, a grade 4 mathematics test, a grade 6 reading test, and the Newark Library Survey. (PN)

Develops an attitude formation model for the occupational and educational goals of disadvantaged African-American students, and tests it for 175 African-American male and female twelfth graders in an urban school district in New Jersey. Discusses variance in student attitudes, sex differences, and the marginalization of African-American urban males. (SLD)

Participants in a program to raise the academic achievement of at-risk elementary school students in the Newark (New Jersey) School District by raising their self-esteem showed both increased self-esteem and achievement gains. The program included individual and group counseling sessions, parent participation, and the use of the Toward Affective Development (TAD) system and the Pumsey series. Two hundred seventy at-risk students were randomly assigned to a treatment group and 183 were assigned to a control group that received no treatment. More than three-fourths of the students in both groups were Black, while the remainder were of Hispanic or Portuguese backgrounds. The groups were compared using the following pre- and posttest measures: (1) the Coopersmith Self Esteem Inventory; (2) attendance; (3) the California Test of Basic Skills (CTBS); (4) parent participation; and (5) participation in counseling sessions. The following highlights are discussed: (1) social experiences with peers seemed to have more of an effect on self-esteem than either home or school experiences; (2) academic self-concept was significantly associated with classroom performance for Blacks and males; (3) while the program did have a significant impact on raising overall self-esteem, it did not have a significant impact on academic self-concept; and (4) the high absence rates of older students indicate the need for longer, more intensive intervention with this group. Statistical data are presented in 12 tables. A list of 32 references is appended. (FMW)

The relationship of minority groups' social class membership, their development of mobility goals, and the role of school tracking was examined through a survey of 350 Black and Hispanic high school students. A model was posited embodying the hypothesis that, among minorities, successful cognitive experiences in school contribute to the variations in the level of occupational and educational goals held. It was argued that the meritocratic ideology on which the educational system rests, and its internalization, lead individuals to equate certain levels of cognitive success with the ability to do well in society. It was also suggested that "others" (parents, peers, and teachers) partake of this ideology and consequently develop expectations for the individual based on his cognitive success. The more experiential outcomes of schooling, such as the adolescent's evaluation of opportunities, would be determined by cognitive performance and, in turn, would determine the range of mobility goals held. These theoretical speculations were substantiated by the data, but discernible differences were found to exist between Blacks and Hispanics. The model destination in terms of post-secondary education and occupational goals was significantly lower for Hispanics than Blacks, although there were no differences in cognitive achievement between the groups. It is recommended that caution be used by educators in labeling students negatively and tracking them into low appreciation situations since such stereotyping can permanently undermine their ability to achieve. (KH)