Participatory monitoring and evaluation (PME) is an approach that higher education institutions should use to ensure achievement of objectives especially quality academic programs, research, consultancies, outreach services and administrative functions. Indeed, over the past 10 years PME has gained increased prominence over more conventional…

An analysis was conducted of the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) research evidence base on the effectiveness of replicable education interventions. Most interventions were found to have little or no support from technically adequate research studies, and intervention effect sizes were of questionable magnitude to meet education policy goals. These…

Aimhigher was discontinued on 31 July 2011. This paper reviews the literature analysing its contribution to widening participation to higher education in the UK. Successes of Aimhigher are considered alongside its challenges; particularly the necessity to situate policy within the diverse demands of 42 areas covering England. These issues are…

Preschool education is increasingly being recognized as an integral part of efforts to ensure that all children enter school ready to learn and as a way to help close the achievement gaps that exist at the time children enter kindergarten. Such efforts are growing across the country. According to the most recent data, 54 different preschool…

Innovation inducement prizes have been used for centuries. In the United States, a recent federal policy change--the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010--clarified and simplified a path by which all federal agencies can offer innovation inducement prizes, thus intensifying interest in how government agencies can most effectively design…

At a time when implementation of electronic portfolios (EPs) is expanding, the issues of clarifying their purposes continue to plague teacher education programs. Are student-centered uses of EPs compatible with program assessment and accreditation efforts? Is this an either/or situation, or can a productive middle ground be forged? This article…

The SAS Educational Value-Added Assessment System (SAS[R] EVAAS[R]) is the most widely used value-added system in the country. It is also self-proclaimed as "the most robust and reliable" system available, with its greatest benefit to help educators improve their teaching practices. This study critically examined the effects of SAS[R] EVAAS[R] as…

This research contributes to efforts in assessment studies related to science and technology interventions. The work presented in this thesis focuses on understanding the effects of policies that influence science and technology interventions, and determining the impact of science and technology interventions themselves. Chapter 1 explores how…

Purpose: Nursing home pay-for-performance (P4P) programs are intended to maximize the value obtained from public and private expenditures by measuring and rewarding better nursing home performance. We surveyed the 6 states with operational P4P systems in 2007. We describe key features of six Medicaid nursing home P4P systems and make…

In this article we present results from a study investigating the impact of three state exit exam systems on teaching and learning in college-preparatory schools. The study compares one state with a traditionally more centralized exam regime, one state that is more de-centralized and one state that has recently switched to more centralized…

Environment and sustainable development show how policies are becoming ever more complex and ambiguous. This trend calls for new evaluation approaches. They need to be more clearly focused on specific, explicit concerns. They must be driven by a strategic concept of use to overcome the vulnerability to manipulation of many integrative, essentially…

This report describes a policy analysis project examining principal evaluation instruments, policies and processes in the fifty United States, the state of Missouri, and 15 Kansas City, Missouri area school districts. Since current research demonstrates that the principal plays a critical role in the success or failure of improvement initiatives,…

In 2002, voters in Florida approved a constitutional amendment limiting class sizes in public schools to 18 students in the elementary grades, 22 students in middle grades, and 25 in high school grades. Analyzing statewide achievement data for school districts from 2004-2006 and for schools in 2007, this study purports to find that "mandated…

In the summer of 2011, the Tennessee Department of Education contracted with the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) to provide a four-day training for all evaluators across the state. NIET trained more than 5,000 evaluators intensively in the state model (districts using alternative instruments delivered their own training).…

Background: Validity is a central concern in any assessment, though this has often not been made explicit in the UK assessment context. This article applies current validity theorising, largely derived from American formulations, to national curriculum assessments in England. Purpose: The aim is to consider validity arguments in relation to the…