Recent publications in the "Journal of Youth and Adolescence" present a variety of topics exploring adolescents' mental functioning in the twenty first century. Conceptually, many of the articles address the intriguing, though rarely explicit, question of developmental continuities and change from adolescence to adulthood. Such…

The article focuses on how the present vocational education and training (VET) system in Australia might be modified to better accommodate possible VET futures change. It begins with the premise that VET's role is to contribute to skills acquisition through "formal" education and training. The authors propose a simple VET futures role…

Notes that current national discussion about future of public education in the United States is characterized by disputes between policymakers and technical measurement experts. Contends that, although disappointing in the past, the dialog between policymakers and assessment specialists should be strengthened if goals of public educational…

Policy analysis consists of evaluating policy options in terms of their effects. The analysis is not complete, however, until the reasoning has been reversed, starting at the outcome end and reasoning back to the first choice (backward mapping). Reversing the logic has two effects on analysis; it provides insurance against unanticipated effects,…

What are the relationships between policy and evaluation within state departments of education? How does policy influence what is evaluated in such settings and how does evaluation inform policymaking? Directors of evaluation in six state education agencies address these issues through detailed descriptions of their operations: Gordon Ascher,…

Reflections on the politics of program evaluation are presented. Topics discussed include policy question development and translation into evaluation questions, translation of evaluation questions into the evaluation proper, translation of evaluation findings into policy, and generation of new policy questions. (TJH)

Discusses various approaches to incremental analysis and distinguishes incremental analysis from incremental politics and incremental politics from partisan mutual adjustment. (IRT)

Critiques comparative empirical research on the effects of public policy. Provides a framework for the analysis of comparative research. (JDH)

Introspective interviewing can often determine the magnitude of relations more meaningfully than statistical analysis. Deduction from empirically validated premises avoids many research design problems. Guesswork can be combined with sensitivity analysis to determine the effects of guesses and missing information on conclusions. (Author/DWH)

This white paper on educational accountability was written in response to a request from the Colorado Commission on Higher Education (CCHE). Of major concern in this study of accountability are the distinctions between system-level and institutional-level obligations. The concept of accountability is developed and related to other important…

Evaluation must take into account both executive and legislative politics and their interactions. A five-part continuum evaluation process is suggested for the development of a policy question and its translation into knowledge that is credible, timely, responsive, and usable. Evaluators have a major responsibility in this process. (Author/JAZ)

The state of evaluation is reviewed and it is suggested that problems lie not only in the political advocacy process through which policy is made, but also in the way evaluators have approached their tasks and presented their results. A project at the University of Wisconsin--Madison is described. (Author/MLW)

Discusses the history of evaluation research, focusing on current emphasis on "evidence-based policy." Highlights five issues emerging as relevant: evaluation can be done in many ways, serious doubts exist about the usefulness of the term "evaluation," evaluation is held back by paradigm wars, views of evaluation are…

Current policy analysis has proved less useful in improving public policy formation than policy scientists once argued it would. At least part of the reason for this lies in the fact that policy analysis has concentrated too narrowly on economic paradigms in teaching and practice, minimizing the evaluation of consequences outside that field. To be…

The history of evaluation utilization in policy making and political features of program evaluation are discussed. A five-part continuum describes the evaluation process. Evaluation practice modifications contribute to real growth in evaluation use in congressional policy making as evaluation research improves the quality of information available…