Since 2010, the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) has periodically administered the "Strong Foundations" survey, which documents the content, structure, and effective use of state postsecondary student unit record systems (PSURSs). This report highlights the results of the fourth administration of the survey,…

A popular taxonomy for categorizing outcomes of training is the four-level model formulated by Kirkpatrick (1959). The first level in the model consists of reactions to training. Kirkpatrick recognized only affective reactions, but more recent reformulations of the model posit other types of reactions, including utility and perceptions of…

In 2006, six community and technical colleges in Washington State joined the innovative national reform initiative called Achieving the Dream (ATD). This report describes the progress each college made in implementing ATD's "culture of evidence" principles for institutional improvement, examines strategies implemented by the colleges to…

When charter schools first arrived on the American educational scene, few observers suspected that within two decades thousands of these schools would be established, serving almost a million and a half children across forty states. The widespread popularity of these schools, and of the charter movement itself, speaks to the unique and chronic…

The literature on program evaluation contains numerous suggestions that evaluative information is frequently underutilized or inappropriately utilized by administrators. This paper reviews the literature on utilization with a view toward identifying workable strategies for optimizing appropriate use. Specific recommendations to evaluators include…

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)

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 study investigated the utility of Title I evaluation, and in particular, the Title I Evaluation and Reporting System (TIERS). To examine utility, instances of evaluation use in state (SEA) and local education agencies (LEA) were identified, and the factors associated with that use were studied. Title I evaluation was used by SEAs to: insure…

Objectives of Title I evaluations are to document: (1) use by local staff and parents; (2) other types of information used by local staff and parents in judging and in improving their program; and (3) implications of these findings for the current Federal Title I evaluation strategy. (Author/RL)

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)

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)

A survey of research scientists (n=35) at the University of Tennessee, Memphis, investigated the usefulness of a funding newsletter generated by the office of research affairs. Results suggest that many researchers contact sponsors after seeing a newsletter announcement but need longer lead times and prefer a monthly publication. (Author/MSE)

In spring 1985, the Office of Student Outreach at William Rainey Harper College (WRHC) in Illinois initiated a study to determine the effectiveness of their responses to telephone and mail inquiries for information about the college. A survey was mailed to a sample of 420 inquirers, asking about their information needs, their evaluation and use of…