Survey of State Procedures for the Validation of Educational Programs

Abstract

Members of the Research and Development Exchange (RDx) agreed to collaborate in the development of a resource base on the identification and validation of promising educational programs, practices, and products. State activities in validation and state concerns about and recommendations concerning current nationally used processes are the subject of this report. Questionnaires were sent by the regional educational laboratories to the states in their regions concerning: (1) the extent to which procedures to validate exemplary programs are being used by state departments of education; (2) the nature of the validation process in use; (3) state implementation procedures for validation and the scope of state validation efforts to date; (4) state organizational arrangements for validation and the nature of state support for the dissemination of validated programs; and (5) the extent of state collaborative validation activities. An overview of current state validation practices is shown on a chart. Survey results, organized by region, are presented in 17 tables accompanied by descriptions. A brief section discusses concerns and issues about the validation of educational programs and practices. In the appendices are summaries for each state, a list of state contacts, a description of validation processes, and the survey form (MLF)