A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Designing Effective Development: Lessons from the Eisenhower Program - December 1999

Acknowledgments

This National Evaluation of the Eisenhower Professional Development Program has depended on the talents of many individuals. First, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to the teachers, state and district coordinators, and project directors who took time out of their busy schedules to complete our surveys and interviews. We owe a special debt to those principals and teachers who allowed us into their schools and classrooms.

We extend our thanks to our design team members—Mary Kennedy, Susan Loucks-Horsley, Jennifer O'Day, Senta Raizen, Thomas Romberg, and Norman Webb. Their expert advice guided the design of the evaluation and the collection of data, and improved its products. We particularly appreciate Mary Kennedy's extensive, and good-natured, comments on this report.

We are grateful to Elizabeth Eisner, our project officer at the U.S. Department of Education?s (ED) Planning and Evaluation Service for her contribution to conceptualizing the study and helping us understand the nature and intentions of the program, and for consistently providing helpful, reflective and timely feedback and comments. We also extend our appreciation to Ricky Takai, Director of Post Secondary Adult and Vocational Education, Division of the Planning and Evaluation Service, and Alan Ginsburg, Director of the Planning and Evaluation Service, for their continued support throughout the project. In addition, we thank Audrey Smith, Program Specialist, Eisenhower Professional Development Program, and Arthur Cole, Director of the School Improvement Programs within the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, for sharing their knowledge about the operations of the Eisenhower program, and their openness to evaluation results. Several others at the Department of Education—Laurette Crum, Stacy Kotzin, John Luczak, Richard Mellman, Val Plisko, Heidi Ramirez, and Linda Rosen—provided us with helpful comments. We also thank John Drake, Dolores Mize, and Douglas Walker for their comments and feedback on the report from the state perspective.

This evaluation is truly a team effort, and individuals from several organizations contributed to this report. From AIR, we appreciate the contributions of: Dan Aladjem, Kristine Burnaska, Cecily Darden, Barbara Lovitts, Alison Reeve, and Cheryl Sattler in designing data collection instruments, reviewing the research literature and the report itself, managing data collection and analysis, or writing early drafts of sections of the report; Stacey Daughters, Susan Kehnemui, Gaby Phillips, John Ryan, Jessica Saltz, Ann Scorza, Sunny Tom, and Eric Wolff for their tireless efforts in data collection and reporting, editing, and production; and Tony Johnson and Arlinda Morris, for their excellent graphics and word processing efforts. From the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER), we thank John Smithson for assistance in instrument design and data analysis, and Lois Opalewski for her patience and responsiveness in acting as liaison between AIR and the WCER. From Wested, we appreciate the efforts of Joyce Kaser and Susan Mundry in helping to conduct site visits and observations of professional development activities.

Without the assistance of all of these dedicated individuals, this study would have been impossible.

[Title page]

[Chapter 1 - Overview of the Eisenhower Professional Development Program and the Design of the National Evaluation]