Background: Data use has been promoted as a panacea for instructional improvement. However, the field lacks a detailed understanding of how teachers actually use assessment data to inform instruction and the factors that shape this process. Purpose: This article provides a review of literature on teachers' use of assessment data to inform…

In connection with the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009, GAO (Government Accountability Office) was required to study the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), a federal source of evidence about effective education practices. Operating through a 5-year contract awarded by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the WWC…

This document, one of a series of reports examining the possible contribution of other disciplines to evaluation methodology, describes the major elements of general systems theory (GST), cybernetics theory (CT) and management control theory (MCT). The author suggests that MCT encapsulates major concerns of evaluation since it reveals that…

The underlying logic and usefulness of true performance monitoring and its potential contribution to program evaluation are examined. It provides an accumulating data base to serve many research designs and generally supports the evaluation process. Increased emphasis on performance monitoring will lead to more cost-effective, policy-relevant…

Evaluators vary in their propensity to make direct valuative judgments of program worth. The decision to include recommendations with a report or provide merely descriptive evaluation depends on individuals' perspectives concerning the nature of reality, truth and values, human agency, and informational utility. (SLD)

Using a set of scenarios derived from actual evaluation studies, this simulation study examines the reported influence of evaluation information on decision makers' potential actions. Each scenario described a context where one of three types of evaluation information (large-scale study data, case study data, or anecdotal accounts) is presented…

Policy Implications Analysis (PIA) is a tool designed to maximize the likelihood that an evaluation report will have an impact on decision-making. PIA was designed to help people planning and conducting evaluations tailor their information so that it has optimal potential for being used and acted upon. This paper describes the development and…

This paper explores the implications of "user-focused evaluation" by examining the information utilization dynamics of the evaluation of the Caribbean Agricultural Extension Project. (BW)

Information use can be defined in many ways depending on a variety of organizational, personal, and presentational factors. The experience of evaluation researchers provides some guides for practice. (Author/MSE)

Four steps to curriculum innovation are outlined: (1) identifying descriptive dimensions; (2) specifying practices implied by the innovation; (3) describing actual practices; and (4) comparing actual with intended practices across the critical dimensions of beliefs, objectives, instructional materials, and teaching strategies. (Author/CP)

The importance of evaluation for institutional development is discussed from the perspective of the manager. It is suggested that the higher education manager can use evaluation to obtain feedback about program effort, performance, and effects that will aid in the decision-making process. (Author/SF)

The results of the experience of a Technical Assistance Center (TAC) for three months with a system for classifying and recording actual and planned tasks and activities are described and discussed. The area covered by this report includes 15 states in 3 geographic regions. Staff days planned and actually spent and trips planned and spent are…

This summary of a recent evaluation of the Minnesota Management Information System (MIS) focuses on problems encountered during its evolution and on options available to solve those problems. A delineation between state and district information needs is provided, with an emphasis on statewide standards for reporting educational needs. (MER)

Describes the creation and objectives of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), and reviews the findings of an evaluation of the NAEP, published in "Measuring the Quality of Education," by Wirtz and Lapointe. Focuses on the role that the NAEP can play in establishing uniform, national educational standards. (GC)

Flexner's report on the procedures, agents, and effects of medical school accreditation emphasizes common sense and unstructured observation, rather than objective social science. Flexner would probably declare that lay people, rather than the National Education Association or the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, should…