This paper presents a framework for utilizing Student Evaluations of Teaching (SET) in faculty evaluations. Recognizing the ongoing debate about the validity of SET as a measure of teaching effectiveness, the authors agree with scholars who propose viewing SET as a tool for gauging 'student perceptions of learning'. They present a method that…

Changing health-care climates mean evaluators need to provide findings within shorter time frames, but challenges remain in the creation of rapid research designs capable of delivering quality data to inform decision-making processes. We conducted a review of articles to grapple with these challenges and explore the ways in which rapid evaluations…

Cost-effectiveness analysis is rarely used in education. When it is used, it often fails to meet methodological standards, especially with regard to cost measurement. Although there are occasional criticisms of these failings, we believe that it is useful to provide a listing of the more common concerns and how they might be addressed. Based upon…

The concept of assessment is one of the most important practices in any education system across the globe. Tracing the concept probably to the time immemorial through the Chinese Imperial Examination System in the fifteenth century, the notion of assessment seems to have proved to be one of the indispensable markers of selection, placement and…

Drawing on a qualitative study of an educational reform and its external evaluation, I describe how a well-intentioned but poorly conceptualized evaluation helped perpetuate asymmetries in the generation and use of evaluation findings. This article explores this project's failure to clarify evaluator roles, identify intended users and expected…

Program evaluation often suffers due to time constraints, imperfect instruments, incomplete data, and the need to report standardized metrics. This article about the evaluation process for the Wi$eUp financial education program showcases the difficulties inherent in evaluation and suggests best practices for assessing program effectiveness. We…

Child assessment practices in English and Korean preschools were compared by analysing data from interviews with educators, examples of child assessment, and official documents from each country. Child assessment in England was systematically implemented and characterised by several methodological and procedural strengths, whereas assessment in…

Studied the nature of barriers to the implementation of external program evaluation through interviews with 18 staff members of a university outreach program. Findings reinforce the importance of a trusting relationship to avoid barriers to evaluation implementation. (SLD)

A survey was conducted to catalog the assessments used by 125 practitioners to evaluate the problem behaviors displayed by clients with mental retardation. Results indicate most practitioners rated functional assessment procedures as extremely or very useful. Findings are discussed with emphasis on the difficulties in conducting functional…

This chapter discusses current methods of formative evaluation and suggests that these methods themselves need to be subjected to more critical research and evaluation in order to provide them with a more scientific base. Topics addressed include problems and methods associated with data gathering, evaluation designs, number of subjects available,…

The viability of persuasion theory as a framework for the assessment of program evaluation utilization was assessed. Independent variables studied included credibility, involvement, and role groups. More specifically, the research was designed to address three questions concerning: (1) the occurrence of peripheral involvement persuasive effects…

Evaluability assessment is a diagnostic and prescriptive technique that can be used to determine the extent to which different problems inhibit program evaluation. It involves policymakers, managers, and staff in developing program theory, clarifying intended uses of evaluation information, and planning further evaluations that would stimulate…

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions held by teachers, principals (and other evaluators), and superintendents regarding current practices in teacher performance evaluation. A second purpose was to collect demographic data relating to current teacher evaluation practices. Two survey instruments were used to collect data. One…

Discusses methodological issues that emerged in evaluating a three-year paternal involvement demonstration project for poor inner-city noncustodial fathers. The dilemmas that arose from the contradictory goals of program evaluation and the need to meet federal and state waiver goals are discussed, and the tradeoffs needed to ensure a meaningful…

This report focuses on the question of how to evaluate workplace education programs. Chapter 1 outlines the various purposes that those involved in workplace education programs have defined for workplace education and describes program models in place to meet those goals. Chapter 2 sets out three scenarios for evaluation at present: informal,…