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Title: Using a profiling process to insure program quality: Volume I - a self-instructional manual

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/563805· OSTI ID:563805

Between 1990 and 1995 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Center for Improving Science Education (National Center) developed a system for ongoing evaluation of K-12 educational programs in the DOE-supported national energy Laboratories. As part of the formative evaluation component of this collaborative endeavor, field staff in the Laboratories began creating profiles of their programs. However, many individuals within DOE Headquarters were not familiar with this profiling process and were unprepared to use the valuable information that the profiles generated. This manual was produced to orient Headquarters staff to profiling. It focuses on how Headquarters staff can use the profiling process to help their funded programs establish and/or maintain high quality. Its purpose, then, is not to train Headquarters staff to become proficient in profiling, but to show them how to draw on the Laboratories` use of profiling to bring about program improvement. Profiling is the process of systematically examining and describing a program`s elements against a set of components that define Effective Practice. The instrument used to capture the data for analysis is called a template, and most of this manual focuses on the templates and how to read and interpret them. However, since it is important to understand these data in context, the authors also describe what should accompany each template in a complete profiling packet and offer guidelines for reviewing complete packets and providing feedback to program managers.

Research Organization:
Network, Inc., Andover, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
FG02-92ER75730
OSTI ID:
563805
Report Number(s):
DOE/ER/75730-T1-Vol.1; ON: DE98001816; TRN: 98:000702
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: Nov 1996
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English