The "Evaluation Exchange" is a periodical published by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. It reports new ideas in evaluating programs and policies.This is a great resource because they include short yet in-depth articles focused on evaluation. I am sure that most CCT students could find useful resources and information within this site. One article I read, called "Evaluating the Impact of Professional Development," was of interest to me because it directly relates to my topic of evaluating a potential professional development opportunity for teachers.

The was written in 1997 (by professional development specialists), so it is a little older, however it is a nice overview of the importance of evaluating professional development programs for teachers. Anyone interested in action research related to professional development would find this useful!

Although my project is not necessarily geared toward evaluating an actual exhibit, I stumbled upon this site that is relevant and pretty interesting. This museum dedicates an entire section of its website to sharing evaluation reports of its exhibits. Most of their evaluations are conducted through observations and interviews, which gave me some ideas about how to design my own evaluation process. The Natural History Museum's evaluations are easy to read and might give others ideas about how to design effective evaluation procedures.

U.S. senators were "graded" on their support for the arts. Interesting to look at who is a strong supporter and who isn't. For example, John McCain received a failing grade. He argued that the National Endowment for the Arts be cut by $50 mil- which is a 3rd of its entire budget! He suggested the NEA has no significant impact on jobs. About 80% of the NEA budget is allocated for grants, which employ thousands of artists. Some suggest that there should be zero public funding for the arts. Well, NASA's budget for 2009 was over $17 BILLION, while the National Endowment for the Arts received $161 million. NASA's budget included $170 mil to invest in entrepeneurs to develop COMMERCIAL transit programs. That's more than the entire NEA budget. Food for thought.

Great article related to Attention Restoration Theory (ART) which was part of my study in 692. Easy to read, and relevant for cognitive psychology students. Check out the Children & Nature Network for more research and info on the importance of connecting with and learning through nature: http://www.childrenandnature.org

Umass Boston is included in the awards recipients! I found this through http://www.artsusa.org/about_us/ which is an organization geared towards promoting and advancing the arts in the U.S. The site seems to have a lot of research and advocacy information, with a focus on ACTION. Warrants further inspection.

This is a good paper about how teachers can use art criticism as a critical thinking process in the elementary curriculum. Focus is on developing "meaningful dialogue."

SInce my project involves getting art educators together to show their work publicly, I am checking into other groups who have done this. I am also interested in looking at how these events are advertised and how they are received by the public and news media.