In this article, we critique two recent theoretical developments about collaborative inquiry in evaluation--using logic models as a means to understand theory, and efforts to compartmentalize versions of collaborative inquiry into discrete genres--as a basis for considering future direction for the field. We argue that collaborative inquiry in…

Successfully providing guidance to others is no easy task. Such is the challenge faced by committees charged with developing guidelines for ethical professional practice. The process of establishing and revising the Program Evaluation Standards (Joint Committee, 1994), for example, is a multiyear task that must seems endless to participants: a…

In many school districts, the pressure to raise test scores has created overnight celebrity status for formative assessment. Its powers to raise student achievement have been touted, however, without attending to the research on which these claims were based. Sociocultural learning theory provides theoretical grounding for understanding how…

It is suggested that educational objectives lack clarity since they are caught between the paradigms of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. A qualitative evaluation process is proposed, wherein rationale theory is compared to practice. Quantitative information may constitute part of the data, but is not an objective in itself. (AEF)

This paper focuses on the discrepancy the authors personally experienced between the stated principles of social research and experience with several applied social research projects over the last 10 years. Three cases of applied social research are presented and critiqued, and two types of structural problems were found. (Author/LMO)

Given the abundance of open education initiatives that aim to make educational assets freely available online, the time seems ripe to explore the potential of open education to transform the economics and ecology of education. Despite the diversity of tools and resources already available--from well-packaged course materials to simple games, for…

The author discusses several dimensions of evaluation utilization in educational settings as a step toward clarifying the meaning of the term. Definitions of evaluation and utilization are offered, distinctions are made between use and utilization, and the processes necessary for determining if an evaluation use is a true utilization are outlined.…

Discusses (1) rationale for early identification and programing for gifted/talented children, (2) issues in developing a program for young children, (3) procedures for identifying the young gifted child, (4) guidelines for program evaluation, and (5) principles for program development. Two university programs, one for identifying gifted…

Discusses eight principles emerging from a 1997 conference on issues facing continuing medical education (CME). The principles reflect the interspecialty and interdisciplinary consensus achieved at the conference. Urges a still more systematic and rigorously analytic approach in which CME content is determined according to assessed needs and…

Argues that race and racism continue to define issues in the United States, but receive little attention in current College and University Faculty Association work, and are minimized in much of National Council for the Social Studies work. Outlines goals that the authors would like to see these organizations adopt. (DSK)

These proceedings contain 14 presentations and other materials from a conference to exchange ideas and encourage planning in continuing education. Introductory materials include a conference program and a preconference orientation that review the definition of the continuing education unit (CEU). Results of a sharing session on ideas for surviving…

Describes outdoor education students' developmental needs for belongingness, acceptance, care and friendship, praise and recognition, responsibility, self-respect, creativity, achievement, and new experiences. Explains how upward, outward, forward, and downward models of personal growth can be linked to developmental needs to enhance and evaluate…

Argues that assessment, evaluation, and reporting are intrinsically linked, and together form a cycle that provides information about individual students, the instructor, the course of study, and the educational environment. Offers educators a list of principles concerning assessment, evaluation, and reporting that challenges many current…

Working with postmodern ideas, this book questions the search to define and measure quality in the early childhood field and its tendency to reduce philosophical issues of value to purely technical and managerial issues of expert knowledge and measurement. The book argues that there are ways other than the "discourse of quality" for…

Examines changes in practices of two nurseries in East Berlin following reunification of Germany. Notes that after reunification, the extensive nursery school coverage for children under 3, and near universal coverage for children 3-6 was drastically reduced, and the ideological justification for coverage was systematically rejected. Discusses…