The pressure to assess educational outcomes comes from a variety of national, regional, and state forces. The primary thrust of most current state initiatives is to encourage institutions to undertake their own appropriate local assessment efforts. The narrow view of assessment focuses upon the use of standardized tests to show the outcomes of…

A series of discussions between the Gloucester (England) Health Authority and a research team resulted in a 3-year project designed to support elderly people, and those who care for them, in their own homes. This paper is an updated version of a discussion paper prepared during the formative phase of the project. It was created to encourage…

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…

Although college faculty may hesitate to evaluate each others' teaching, it is a sensible alternative to evaluation by students or by administrators. Peer evaluations are not only useful for improving teaching, but also affect promotion and tenure decisions. When faculty are rated by observation, repeated visits and rater training are required in…

Using architectural design as a model, the article discusses the process of evaluation design. Like the architect, the evaluator faces a problem of finding forms that best fit a partially defined set of contextual demands. The context is the set of all factors which made demands upon the final design form. Like the architect, the evaluator's…

Discusses the importance of fairness in evaluation studies of second-language programs and the potential for misinterpretation of studies which are not program-fair. Strategies designed to overcome this problem from the perspective of standardized tests include: specific tests for each program, program-specific plus program-neutral measures,…

A short history of program theory in evaluation is reviewed. Two related problems in program evaluation are discussed and illustrated: (1) how to specify in measurable terms the consensus of theories and values that guides the program; and (2) how to construct a theoretical framework that specifies the use of these measurements. (Author/JAZ)

This article shows how microcomputer software can help in overcoming key methological problems in program/policy evaluation by: (1) paired comparisons; (2) sensitivity analysis to deal with missing information; (3) allocation percentages to deal with multiple alternatives; (4) sub-optimizing to deal with conflicting constraints; and (5) decision…

An approach to functional vision evaluations clarifies the types of data collection and suggests protocols for three broad categories of visually handicapped children: "normal" school-age students, "normal" preschoolers, and multiply handicapped pupils. Visually impaired infants are classified with multiply handicapped pupils…

A broad concept of evaluative information is offered in terms of multiple domain, multiple sources, and multiple methods. Comprehensive information collection is emphasized as part of a larger commitment to, and actualization of, a school based process of ongoing staff inquiry. (Author/JAZ)

Current ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Oral Language Proficiency Guidelines are based on an overly narrow view of communicative language proficiency. However, the guidelines do provide a basis for the development of effective teaching and testing methods. (CB)

Through a description and comparison of standards for evaluation and criteria for judging naturalistic inquires some potential conflicts in using naturalistic methods are identified. Analysis of problems suggests that compromises in the use of evaluation standards and criteria for naturalistic procedures are usually necessary. (Author/JAZ)

Many evaluation researchers are now attempting to synthesize quantitative and qualitative approaches. Although such efforts appear to carry great promise, some subtleties and incompatibilities of these approaches are perhaps being overlooked. Implications for social inquiry are discussed. (Author/GDC)

Interpersonal expectancy effects--the unintentional expectations that experimenters, teachers, and authority figures bring to experiments, classrooms, and other situations--can wield significant influence on individuals. Some of the issues surrounding expectancy effects are detailed in this paper. The effect itself has been recreated in…

A study analyzed the assessment profiles of 48 young adults with giftedness and a learning disability (G/LD) and 46 young adults with a learning disability profile without giftedness. Findings indicate that the adults with G/LD tended to be identified later and have more discrepancy among cognitive assessment profile scores. (Author/CR)