This introduction provides an overview of the eight other articles in the special issue and summarizes the objectivist concept of educational evaluation that the author recognizes as growing from the work of the Center for Research on Educational Accountability and Teacher Evaluation (CREATE). (SLD)

School-based evaluation, the focus of this article, is conceived of as neither a synonym for internal evaluation nor an antonym for external evaluation, but as a combination that is examined through a review of recent research. A school-based evaluation in Israel illustrates combining these approaches in a complementary way. (SLD)

British and American approaches to educational evaluation are compared in terms of definition, political genesis, the agencies which commission and execute evaluation studies, and the use of results. The future evolution of these evaluation approaches is also discussed. (JAC)

Education systems around the world have begun to describe student outcomes rather explicitly in terms of actual learning that students should exhibit. How system approaches to articulating and monitoring these outcomes function is explored with reference to British, Australian, Canadian, and U.S. (Kentucky, New York, and the New Standards Project)…

Methods for and results of implementation in the United States of the Second International Science Study's (SISS) advanced-science subsample are discussed. Analyses of student, teacher, and school effects on achievement in advanced biology, chemistry, and physics results are included. American students scored among the lowest four SISS…

Seven articles on the evaluation of high technology educational media are presented. Topics covered include hardware and software evaluation, acquired immune deficiency syndrome education, computer-based educational evaluation in the Netherlands, evaluation of educational television in Israel, broadcasting research, interactive video, and effects…