Various aspects of the institutional evaluation process are discussed including: pitfalls to avoid, choice of indicators, audience, accountability, futures research, technological change, program termination, data sources, longitudinal data, political aspects, advertising, marketing, and internal v external evaluators. (Author/SF)

New Brunswick's controversial Educational Reform Program is hit hard by two recent outside evaluators. (Editor)

Argues that evaluation is a component of the educational planning process and discusses the transfer of a Canadian technical-vocational institution to Ghana. (IRT)

Five categories of student outcomes in graduate and professional education are identified: timely degree completion; knowledge of the discipline; preparedness for professional practice; preparation for research and inquiry; preparation for teaching. A framework for assessing each is offered and various methods for collecting data on student…

Camp White Eagle (Illinois) developed an evaluation process to assess the positive effects of its wilderness adventure program on adjudicated adolescents. Discusses aspects of the evaluation process applicable to other camps: reviewing program elements, formulating questions, choosing the design, developing measurements, collecting data,…

This article reviews use of individual education plans (IEPs) for children with disabilities and giftedness in Great Britain. The review emphasizes that IEP effectiveness depends on the contexts in which they are generated and the range and quality of the data on which they are based. The need for an effective, comprehensive review and evaluation…

Discusses the quality of school-level data collected as part of state accountability systems, including the reliability and validity of school-level test scores as a measure of the value added by schools to student learning, outlining ways that these data can be usefully analyzed; illustrating challenges inherent in doing so; and discussing…

A case study approach taken with three years of data on a hospital's trauma program indicate that, although service user data is important, its political importance far outweighs evaluation value and utility, especially for hard-to-access samples. Implications of this challenge to traditional assumptions for program evaluation are discussed. (SLD)

Strategies are presented for analyzing longitudinal research designs with many waves of data using hierarchical linear modeling. The approach defines well-focused parameters that yield meaningful effect size estimates and significance tests. It is illustrated with data from the Boys Town Follow-Up Study. (SLD)

The rationale for a multistage approach to evaluating services demonstration programs is discussed. The approach takes into account limitations that are often found in such programs. The National Evaluation of Models for Linking Drug Abuse Treatment and Primary Care provides an example. (SLD)

A content analysis, consisting of 24 items covering behavior specification, objectives, program procedures, data collection, and quality assurance, was applied to 141 written behavior reduction programs of 2 large residential institutions for individuals with developmental disabilities. Use of the content analysis is recommended for program…

A Lesson Plan Evaluation Form was developed to provide systematic quantitative data about classroom functioning in an elementary-level gifted program. Plans (n=137) from 15 teachers were analyzed, and useful information about program functioning was obtained in a cost-effective manner. Data obtained were consistent with data from more traditional…

An approach to evaluation initiated by the Kellogg Foundation called cluster evaluation (not to be confused with cluster sampling) is described. Cluster evaluation provides a skilled, credible evaluator to work with a cluster of projects to assure that useful and defensible information is obtained for program evaluation. (SLD)

Provides a rationale for Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES) program evaluation, and discusses the development and use of the FLES Program Evaluation Inventory (FPEI). Questionnaires are provided for duplication, and step-by-step instructions are given for the administration, tabulation, and reporting of the five different forms.…

Describes an action research project on English-as-a-Second-Language literacy evaluation and assessment and presents an evaluation grid as one means of quantifying qualitative information through attentive listening and observation. The grid provides a tangible piece of a holistic approach to practitioner-based research into how learners learn and…