Much has been said in literature about the changing face of development and the changing face of the aid industry. However, the focus of this article is the effect that this could have on evaluation and what might be done to move evaluation into the most useful space possible. Herein, the author makes the case that the evaluation community needs…

Networks aiming for fundamental changes bring together a variety of actors who are part and parcel of a problematic context. These system innovation projects need to be accompanied by a monitoring and evaluation approach that supports and maintains reflexivity to be able to deal with uncertainties and conflicts while challenging current practices…

Recent efforts to improve K-12 educational outcomes have had mixed success. One possible reason is that many students entering kindergarten lack the basic skills to succeed in school. In 2007, with support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Hawai'i launched its P-3 (preschool through third-grade) initiative, the early childhood component of the…

Since the 1940s, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and its predecessor agencies have contracted with state approving agencies (SAA) to assess whether schools and training programs offer education of sufficient quality for veterans to receive VA education assistance benefits. SAAs are created or designated by state governments but are…

Weighing in at 567 pages, including 107 pages of footnotes, the 9/11 Commission Report is a metaphor for the primitive and often dysfunctional state of risk management in large organizations such as colleges and universities. President Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, told the commission that government decisions "were made from…

Newborn screening has existed as a state-based public health service since the early 1960s. Every state and most territorial jurisdictions have comprehensive newborn screening programs in place, but in the United States a national newborn screening policy does not exist. This results in different administrative infrastructures, screening…

A systems analysis-based process of structured observation is proposed as a means of describing and determining the value of college admissions and records program procedures. The process involves data collection, interviews of the personnel responsible for specific procedures, diagramming the system, and observation. A sample case is presented.…

Reports the findings of a needs assessment study of congregate housing for the elderly. Used two models: the constant and the accommodating for the study. Suggests an alternative, balanced model involving intervention to strengthen the informal network. (RC)

This evaluation of the New York State Experimental Prekindergarten (PreK) Program was designed to investigate the extent to which efforts to enhance program continuity through staff development activities produced lasting effects on children's cognitive and noncognitive development. Three children in each of seven of the 48 PreK school districts…

A Quality Assurance Program (QAP) developed at the College of St. Francis is presented that is based on an open systems approach. The model allows an institution to continually monitor, evaluate, and, when necessary, modify its academic programs, graduates or undergraduate, traditionally or non-traditionally delivered, to assure quality. Part I…

A study was conducted to validate the Instructional Support System-Occupational Education (ISSOE) automotive mechanics curriculum. The following four steps were undertaken: (1) review of the ISSOE materials in terms of their "validity" as task statements; (2) a comparison of the ISSOE tasks to the tasks included in the V-TECS Automotive…

Institutional research and the role of information systems are examined and three types of information provided by institutional research offices are discussed: institutional studies, management analyses, and periodic management reports. The varying characteristics of research offices are described and the role of the institutional research office…

In 1965, Robert Kennedy initiated federal evaluation policy with ESEA. His conception of political accountability was converted into a system of cost benefit analysis, which periodically justified funding curtailments. This systems approach, similar to Taylor's Scientific Management, is inadequate as the sole evaluation tool for federal programs.…

This report describes what schools and educators across Kentucky are doing to implement school reform in school-based decision-making based on the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 (KERA). The School-Based Decision Making (SBDM) component of KERA is a decentralized governance structure that vests great authority in SBDM councils operating at…

Mental health center administrators are concerned about persons who contact centers but fail to keep initial appointments. Factors within centers that discourage client follow-through must be identified and changed. Telephone surveys were attempted for 50 such individuals from the youth (N=23) and adult (N=27) team logs of the Weber Mental Health…