Evaluation of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Mathematics and Science Regional Consortiums Program: First Interim Report, 1996.

This report provides a description of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Mathematics and Science Regional Consortiums Program's early operations as a first step in a study that will later offer more evaluative judgments. In this first round of evaluation, the report seeks to describe the federal formulation of the program's purpose, early organization of the Consortia, and work of the Consortia. The principal categories of activities observed in the program are: professional development, support for state teams and regional networks, task-specific assistance, dissemination, purchasing materials and equipment, and networking among the Regional Consortia. In its early stages, the Regional Consortiums Program has sought to build a broad base of participation in planning and carrying out tasks intended to support reform. Accordingly, there has been more emphasis on regional and intergovernmental process than on mathematics and science context although content has not been absent from the program. It is not yet clear whether an emphasis on process will continue to be characteristic of this program or whether it represents a stage that the Consortia will outgrow. (MKR)