Assistance IDENTIFIERS *Education Consolidation and Improvement Act 1981

The intent of the investigation reported here was to study the impact of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA) on educational evaluation at the state and local level. The study had three major purposes: (1) to investigate the state education agency (SEA) and local education agency (LEA) responses to changing evaluation requirements under Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of ECIA, (2) to discover new evaluation-related methodological problems, and (3) to identify changing evaluation training and technical assistance needs. Through a_10-month, longitudinal interview study of evaluators in five western state departments and five large school districts, some preliminary _ results emerged. Reductions in money and staff have indeed brought about consolidation, but improvement is still an open question. Budget reductions are affecting educational programs more than the new Chapter 1 and Chapter _2 legislation. Much of the Chapter 2 money is being spent on materials and equipment, especially microcomputers. Evaluation units seem to be shifting away from monitoring and evaluation and focusing more on technical assistance and leadership. These and other findings are discussed in this report. (BW) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document