This document is comprised of the three 2002 issues of a newsletter of the Harvard Family Research Project, designed to share new ideas and experiences in evaluating systems reform and comprehensive child and family services. The Spring issue focuses on family support evaluations and their role in advancing the field of family support and includes…

School and government officials, system administrators and other policymakers offer a variety of reasons for engaging in high stakes testing: to monitor student performance, to measure teacher and/or school effectiveness, to ensure accountability, etc. Some of these reasons are good; others not. But the best reason--one that is never offered,…

The author of this article challenges a common assumption made by both critics and defenders of standardized-testing technology (or psychometry), namely that standardized tests "measure" something (culture, ability, etc.). It argues that psychometric practice cannot be classified as a form of measurement and instead is best understood as…

In this study, special education teachers identified students with learning disabilities who were working on math skills usually taught two grades below the grade in which the student was enrolled. Each student (n=33) took two levels of the MAT/7 math computation test, an on-grade test, and an out-of-level test intended for students two grades…

Value-added modeling (VAM) to estimate school and teacher effects is currently of considerable interest to researchers and policymakers. Recent reports suggest that VAM demonstrates the importance of teachers as a source of variance in student outcomes. Policymakers see VAM as a possible component of education reform through improved teacher…

A taxonomy of potential values conflicts in evaluations is presented. Basis is the distinction of types of conflict (aims vs. means conflicts; qualitative vs. quantitative conflicts). Six areas of values are discussed: the ethical, methodical, social and interactive, legal, economic, and personal values. The taxonomy of conflicts between these…

In the United Kingdom, these two perspectives on lifelong learning sit uneasily together: emphasis on adults in employment and a focus on diversity and widening participation in adult education. A recent emphasis on accreditation with implications for funding has affected diversity and participation objectives because involving assessment,…

This book introduces adult educators and trainers to the principles and techniques of learner evaluation in the various contexts of adult education. The following are among the topics discussed: (1) the purposes of evaluation (the importance of authentic evaluation; principles of evaluation; traps in evaluation); (2) evaluating one's philosophy…

This book, which is intended for adult educators and human resource developers, presents guidelines for assessing adult learning. The following are among the topics covered in the book's eight chapters: (1) basic principles of informal assessment (relationship between learning and assessment activities; sequencing learning and assessment…