The author is increasingly sensitive to the Venn diagram of overlapping expertise in which program evaluation intersects a content area such as public health, urban education, or--in the case of Katherine Hay--international development. Many evaluators practice in these areas of overlap, experts in the evaluation of a specific domain. Given her…

Evaluating training programs through the use of checklists is explained. One sample checklist is presented for use by managers, supervisors, and/or evaluators for the program design and developmental process evaluation. Another checklist is presented concerning learning conditions. (CT)

In this article, a reader is asking for advice regarding her 10-year-old daughter who is having difficulty with her reading and focusing skills and social skills. The author recommends that her daughter should have a full evaluation of her academic skills and potentials inclusive of psychology, speech, and occupational therapy. The author also…

Explains and differentiates among several types of needs assessment, recommends one type, the external needs assessment, and presents the steps for implementing this and other types of needs assessments. (Author/CHC)

Two definitions most often used by adult educators to describe competency-based adult education (CBAE) are one posited by Spady (1977) and another formulated by state adult basic education directors. The first, a "prescriptive-consensual" definition, describes conditions of a phenomenon (CBAE) and relies on the experience of acknowledged experts,…

This issue contains five articles about assessment in adult literacy programs. The first article, "Living Literacy: Rethinking Adult Learner Assessment" (Susan L. Lytle), focuses on developing alternative forms of assessment such as literacy portfolios to identify changes in four dimensions of adult literacy over the course of literacy…

When different individuals operating in different contexts implement similar innovations, they approach the various parts of the innovation in different ways. When assessed according to the research procedures used to study innovation implementation at the Research and Development Center for Teacher Education at the University of Texas at Austin,…

The Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) Entry Vocabulary Project established a routine procedure for new cross references, suggested by designated libraries, to be considered for addition to LCSH entries by the Library of Congress Subject Catalog Division. Since October 1982, suggestions from four libraries (the University of California at…

Completed in partial fulfillment of Wisconsin Statutes, Chapter 347, Laws of 1979, this Council on Library and Network Development (COLAND) report makes recommendations for developing multitype library systems in Wisconsin to facilitate resource sharing between public, school, academic, and special libraries. It is noted that the recommendations…

In 1982 a study was conducted to analyze educational software information currently available to Canadian educators and to develop a plan for effectively collecting, organizing, and disseminating courseware information in the future. The teachers, students, librarians, educational resource personnel, and administrators included in the study…

Discusses the selection and purchase of microcomputer software, recommending that buyers beware of free or undemonstrated software, buy computer programs written in assembly language, and evaluate the company as well as the software. A software evaluation checklist is included. (JJD)

Over the past 6 years, the Oral History Project Team has conducted interviews with individuals who have influenced the theory and practice of evaluation. In 2006, Robin Miller, with the help of Christian Coryn of The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University (WMU), and Daniela Schroeter, also at the Center, sat down with widely regarded…

Discusses the evaluation of library reference service; examines problems with past evaluations, including the lack of long-term planning and a systems perspective; and suggests a method for continuously monitoring and improving reference service using quality improvement tools such as checklists, cause and effect diagrams, Pareto charts, and…

This paper presents a schema for measuring the effects of prevention programs in mental retardation, using 43 items that are quantifiable, accessible, and pertinent to disability outcomes. The items relate to service indicators, risk indicators, and incidence/prevalence information in the prenatal, perinatal, and childhood periods. (Author/JDD)

Properly conceived and implemented new initiatives are essential to improving schools and communities. Such new initiatives usually are pursued as projects, pilots, or demonstrations, with temporary funding and staffing. When the funding ends, more often than not much of what has been developed disappears. Sometimes this is appropriate (e.g., when…