It is critical for schools and districts engaged in a comprehensive school-reform process to develop a schoolwide or districtwide strategy, one that affects teaching and learning, governance, and professional development. Researchers studying school-reform processes have noted that different types of models suit different schools differently.…

Matching Needs and Services (MNS) is a practice tool intended to help people who work with vulnerable children use rigorously assembled information on needs as a guide to design, implement, and evaluate more-effective services. To do this, MNS focuses on needs but links them to outcomes and thresholds before dealing with the services to achieve…

It has been two years since the Evaluation Research Society (ERS) published its Standards for Program Evaluation. The standards have influenced professional activities, such as panel discussions, and have been useful in training evaluators. However, the question arises as to whether the standards have been consulted by practicing evaluators or…

Policy Implications Analysis (PIA) is a tool designed to maximize the likelihood that an evaluation report will have an impact on decision-making. PIA was designed to help people planning and conducting evaluations tailor their information so that it has optimal potential for being used and acted upon. This paper describes the development and…

Information Based Evaluation (IBE) is identified as a design procedure for assessing a variety of projects, programs, and educational changes. IBE was used to evaluate a Comprehensive Diagnostic Teaching Center (DTC) which, in addition to providing teacher training and services to handicapped pupils, would bring together and focus all of the…

Managerial style has implications for program evaluators who wish teir work to be utilized in the decision-making process. This article characterizes managerial behavior in general, and draws some inferences as to how utilization would proceed and how it might be increased. (Author/CTM)

Proposes an instructional program monitoring system which would gather, tabulate, and analyze -- at a central source and at regular intervals -- some continuous evidence of the degree to which defined program goals are being attained. (Author)

Critical issues in the process of program evaluation are (1) identification and definition of objectives and outcomes, (2) development of valid and reliable forms of assessment, (3) development of methods of data analysis and interpretation, and (4) extension of the use of evaluation results. (SK)

A successful school program evaluation is re-examined to determine what made it successful. Suggestions for future evaluations include: (1) observe the political context of the program; (2) select a useful research design; (3) be sensitive to the subjects; and (4) discuss preliminary findings and be open to rebuttals. (JKS)

This study investigated the utility of Title I evaluation, and in particular, the Title I Evaluation and Reporting System (TIERS). To examine utility, instances of evaluation use in state (SEA) and local education agencies (LEA) were identified, and the factors associated with that use were studied. Title I evaluation was used by SEAs to: insure…

As the procedures of evaluation research have developed during recent years, it has become clear that the results of evaluation studies have failed to provide policy decision makers with useful information. An approach towards designing and implementing more useful evaluations--the stakeholder survey--is discussed. Stakeholders are individuals, or…

A 10-ITEM, MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONNAIRE WAS DESIGNED TO SURVEY THE USE OF AND TEACHER REACTION TO EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION (ETV) IN EIGHT COUNTIES PARTICIPATING IN THE REGIONAL ETV AREA OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. THE 3,860 TEACHER RESPONSES WERE PROCESSED THROUGH DATA PROCESSING EQUIPMENT, AND WERE CONVERTED INTO PERCENTAGE OF RESPONSE FOR EACH ITEM…

A document intended to provide program planning guidelines for Young Men's Christian Associations (YMCAs) desirous of working with families, recommends adherence to eight principles and following of five steps. The principles involve planning before action, fact finding and analysis, clear delineation of operational objectives, planning at all…

A two-stage project generated and tested a problem-solving linkage model of dissemination and utilization (DU) processes. The first phase involved the analysis of the DU activities of four Federal agency units in order to produce the model. The overall DU process was conceptualized as a dialogue between users with information needs and suppliers…

Institutionalizing the evaluation function within educational institutions serves both accountability and decisionmaking. One of the greatest problems is the reliability of evaluation in formation. Provides guidelines for avoiding credibility gaps that derive from the characteristics of personnel and from the nature of the organizational…