Since the beginning of the 21st century, evaluability assessments have experienced a resurgence of interest. However, little is known about how evaluability assessments have been used to improve future evaluations. In this article, we identify characteristics, challenges, and opportunities of evaluability assessments based on a scoping review of…

Systematic reviews of single-case experimental research (SCER) in special education often use the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Standards to assess the methodological rigor of studies within a given literature base. While significant changes were made between the two most recent versions of the WWC standards, no research to date has evaluated the…

Multitiered systems of support provide a framework for matching the needs of a struggling student with an appropriate intervention. Experimental evaluations of tiered support systems in grade schools have been conducted for decades but have been less frequently examined in early childhood contexts. A recent meta-analysis of multitiered systems of…

Three-tiered models of prevention are increasingly being adopted by schools to address the behavioral needs of students. A critical component of multitiered systems are secondary interventions used with students in need of behavioral support but who are not candidates for individualized interventions. Despite the importance of secondary…

In 2004, the Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change emphasized the need for a comprehensive base of information on the effectiveness of community collaborations for youth--an accessible, evidence-rich resource that could guide local efforts to bring about meaningful change. Nearly 10 years later, this need remains largely unmet. In…

Special education in Saudi Arabia was formally established in 1962. The earliest cited literature on special education written in English was a 1970 government report. This article presents results from the first synthesis of internationally published Saudi special education literature over a 44-year period. This synthesis yielded information…

Since the mid 1970s, a series of international declarations that recognize the critical link between environmental sustainability and higher education have been endorsed and signed by universities around the world. While academic initiatives in sustainability are blossoming, higher education lacks a comprehensive evaluation framework that is…

Video-based instruction is becoming a common intervention in today's classrooms. Previous research has focused primarily on video modeling techniques that required the student to watch an entire video of the task before attempting to complete the task independently. Video prompting is a form of video instruction that breaks down target skills…

Considerable research has been conducted on the use of the findings of program evaluation, but little, if any, attention has been paid to the soundness of the methods of this research. If the methods are not sound or not well described in the research, the strength of the conclusions of the research is unknown. The authors examine the empirical…

This paper synthesizes the existing literature on stakeholder involvement in program evaluation, drawing a basic distinction between deep involvement of a few versus less active involvement of a broad range of stakeholders. The paper then comments on the case studies described in this special issue and integrates them with previously published…

This paper reports on a national evaluation project that investigated characteristics of environmental education (EE) practice in New Zealand schools in 2002-2003. The research included a review of New Zealand and international environmental education literature, a survey of nearly 200 New Zealand schools and case studies of environmental…

Background: The literature contains very few studies that focused on evaluating the impact of professional development activities on student learning. And, many of these studies failed to determine whether the professional development activities met their primary goal--to improve the learning process. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to use…

This article provides a critical review of the quality of 12 recent large federal program evaluations. The review focused on elements of the evaluation design, inclusion of evaluation expertise among those who have oversight of the evaluation, and evaluation dissemination. Overall, the process analyses from these evaluations provide good models…

Cost analysis has become an important educational decision-making tool in recent years, as educators are being asked to do more with less funding and to provide tangible evidence of the effectiveness of educational programs. Yet few researchers and practitioners are familiar with how to conduct a cost analysis or interpret cost analysis data. This…

The author describes the preparation, delivery, and evaluation of five teleconferencing sessions and draws out the lessons learned. She relates the findings to the literature on the topic. (JOW)