The articles in this special issue discuss efforts to improve academic reading outcomes for students and ways to achieve high implementation fidelity of promising strategies. At times the authors discuss if--and how--strong fidelity is associated with strong outcomes and potentially even impacts (the difference between program and control group…

On September 17, 2013 (Constitution Day), the C3 Framework was released under the title "The College, Career and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History." The C3 Project Director and lead writer was NCSS member Kathy Swan, who is…

This article describes the design and evaluation approaches to address the complexity posed by systems change initiatives. The role of evaluations in addressing the following issues is briefly reviewed: moving from strategic planning to implementation, impacts on system-level coordination, anticipated timeline of impact, and individual level…

This special series focused on treatment integrity in the child mental health and education field is timely. The articles do a laudable job of reviewing (a) the current status of treatment integrity research and measurement, (b) existing conceptual models of treatment integrity, and (c) the limitations of prior research. Overall, this thoughtful…

External and implementation factors and their potential threats to field test validity and the practical realities of the field testing process on results are discussed. External factors include site selection, negotiations, contracts, site monitoring, training, and type of product. Implementation factors include motivation, dependence on local…

Presents the design and implementation of a deductive object-oriented database which is built upon a formally defined data model that uses two languages: an imperative programming language called ROCK (Rule Object Computation Kernel), and a logic language called ROLL (Rule Object Logic Language). (LRW)

An analysis of apparent program failure should determine whether the fault lies with the program model, implementation strategy, expectations, or evaluation methods. The evaluation should be planned before completing and carrying out the program design. (SK)

The editors give each of the theorists a chance to respond to questions posed about the context of the situation in relation to their own experience in the field, exploring how the exercise had an impact on their evaluation designs.

Describes a model, based on the "levels of use" concept, for evaluating individualized education program (IEP) implementation under Public Law 94-142. The model includes three levels: awareness, implementation mechanics, and "evolution" or realization of goals. The model is applied to 30 IEPs in a Florida school district. (RW)

The assumption of equal treatment implementation is questioned. Through the reanalysis of data from a nutrition supplementation program evaluation, the power of the analysis of treatment effects is shown to increase when data on the level of treatment implementation is included. (Author/CM)

Defines and evaluates alternative or authentic assessment, explores some of the creative options that are available, and provides tips for implementing new evaluation strategies. (Author)

Presents a conceptual framework intended to indicate the need to consider curriculum implementation, staff development, and evaluation as integrally linked in the curriculum change process and to reinforce the idea of involving teachers meaningfully. (RS)

Evaluation errors may be unintentional, caused by incompetence, or intentional caused by mendacity. This report is concerned, not with incompetence, but with the production of educational assessments flawed by an evaluator's deceit. The purposes of the paper are: (1) to identify conditions under which people purposely distort evaluation reports,…

Stakeholder-based studies modify the relationship between evaluator and user, producing conflict that can cause evaluators to regress to familiar, traditional patterns that leave interactive evaluation strategies only partially implemented. (Author/PN)

Discussion of motivation in the instructional design process highlights an integrated affective domain instructional systems design model that integrates the work of Keller's ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, Satisfaction) model with a military instructional systems design model. Phases of the model include analysis, design, development,…