The Randomized Control Trials (RCT) design and its quasi-experimental kissing cousin, the Comparison Group Trials (CGT), are golden to some and not even silver to others. At the center of the affection, at the vortex of the discomfort, are beliefs about what it takes to establish causality. These designs are considered primarily when the purpose…

This paper provides a description and documentation of two significant events in the history of our field: (1) the development of our field and the doctoral program review process and outcome by the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education; and (2) the process by which the Academy successfully had "kinesiology" included as a…

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) suppports four non-profit units, Area Alcohol Education and Training Programs (AAETP), organized in 1974 to facilitate the delivery of alcohol education and training at the state and local level. In 1976, the NIAAA initiated an evaluation of the AAETP. Goals were to determine…

This paper presents the designs underlying an IPI approach to ninth grade science implemented in the Jamesville-DeWitt schools in New York State. Briefly described are the generalizable instructional model, evaluation systems for assessing individual performance and the effectiveness of the instructional program and the support systems which make…

As part of its Jobs Initiative (JI) program in six metropolitan areas Denver, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Seattle the Annie E. Casey Foundation sought to develop and test a method for establishing benchmarks for workforce development agencies. Data collected from 10 projects in the JI from April through March, 2000,…

Program evaluators need methods that can be used in a variety of situations to help gather data. Photolanguage is one such technique that uses black-and-white photographs to elicit responses from individuals. It is particularly useful in situations where the respondents may give restricted or only minimal data. This article provides the…

This article discusses a new standard for measuring graduate programs in the United States. The Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index, produced by Academic Analytics, a for-profit company, rates faculty members' scholarly output at nearly 7,300 doctoral programs around the country. It examines the number of book and journal articles published by…

Principles of program evaluation research are outlined so that bilingual education program coordinators can conduct methodologically acceptable program evaluations. The three basic principles of evaluation research are: identification of the program participants, definition of the program intervention, and assessment of program effectiveness.…

The article describes the Illinois Nurses' Association Continuing Education Recognition Program (INA-CERP), a voluntary system which provides credit for approved course offerings and an official record of continuing education achievements for individual nurses. The program's administrative staff and the method of processing programs for credit…

This paper evaluates the Emergency School Aid Act (ESAA) Basic and Pilot Project Grant Programs. Among the major questions addressed in the evaluation were: What kinds of students participate in the programs, what kinds of districts and schools receive support, what are the funding patterns, how are the funds translated into services, how…

The implications of the lessons learned through an evaluability assessment (EA) of the Title II Basic Skills Improvement Program (BSIP) for State Education Agency (SEA) support of model demonstration programs are discussed. The purposes, methodology and uses of the EA process are presented. Also included is a discussion of the details of the…

This is a proposal submitted by the Ohio State University Research Foundation for design of a planning and assessment system for the Division of Manpower and Institutions (now Division of Research and Development Resources), U.S. Office of Education. It responds to a need for an expanded planning, management, and assessment system that would…

Workshop and conference improvement becomes a function of planning, linking, evaluating and following up on all aspects of the workshop experience. (ABM)

After a brief discussion of the terms implementation and monitoring, this article illustrates a strategy for monitoring program implementation. The strategy, called model-guided method, offers a way to develop conceptual and empirical specifications for testing the adequacy of a program implementation. It also provides feedback to program…

Harvard Family Research Project's series of Out-of-School Time Evaluation Snapshots distills the wealth of information compiled in our Out-of-School Time Program Evaluation Database and Bibliography into a single report. Each Snapshot examines a specific aspect of out-of-school time (OST) evaluation. This Snapshot draws on information from Harvard…