Examines ethical codes within evaluation and related disciplines and processions and discusses implications for content, dissemination, and compliance. An immediate issue is expanding the dialog that the American Evaluation Association document "Guiding Principles for Evaluators" was intended to create. (Author/SLD)

The theorists whose work appears in this issue have confronted the exercise presented to them in vastly different ways. The editors of this journal asked these theorists to consider how they would evaluate the Bunche-Da Vinci program, and to make and specify assumptions about the program context. The primary task, however, was to describe "a…

This article examines the nuances of conducting evaluation of and in nonformal education programs and settings. The author examines a set of universal evaluation issues--evaluator role, stakeholder involvement, program theory, capacity building, strategy selection, and evaluation use--as they occur and interact within nonformal education…

In 1999, the staff of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) of the Virginia General Assembly (the state legislature) completed a review of the Virginia Board of Medicine that found problems with the process used to regulate physicians and recommended major changes to a system that had remained relatively unchanged for almost…

Conducted a case study of the evaluation of a women's substance abuse prevention program and identified three key aspects of negotiated evaluation. Discusses the processes involved in feminist evaluation, including collaborative agenda setting and cooperative teamwork. (SLD)

Focuses on ethical issues that can arise in the collection and analysis of data in evaluations. Addresses four issues: (1) the application of cost-benefit thinking to judgments about research ethics, (2) the quality of research design, (3) the need to explore the data, and (4) the censoring of data. (Author/SLD)

Evaluation inarguably takes place within social, cultural, historical, economic, and political contexts--the contexts defined by human existence and experience. These contexts envelope many dimensions. Race, ethnicity, language, gender, age, religion, and sexual orientation are among the commonly listed demographic attributes of contextual…

Nationally, there is continuing debate about appropriate methods for conducting educational evaluations. The U.S. Department of Education has placed a priority on "scientifically" based evaluation methods and has advocated a "gold standard" of randomized controlled experimentation. The priority suggests that randomized control methods are best,…

In this chapter, the authors review the literature on partnership evolution to offer strategies for developing collaborative evaluator-client relationships. They begin with a brief introduction to partnerships and their approach to client relationships. A synthesis of the literature on partnership evolution is provided and applied to the…

The extent to which evaluation and auditing have converged on procedures in recent years and the extent to which they remain different are examined in the five chapters of this special issue. Different emphases, the question of collaboration with the subjects of inquiry, and issues of routinized performance are explored. (SLD)

Focuses on the process of evaluation capacity building (ECB) in a school district from the perspective of an internal evaluator hired to develop the evaluation function of the district. Shows how the work was originally conceived and why it changed. Emphasizes the core function of the district's Assessment Department, managing the standardized…

Discusses the challenges faced by evaluators in moving from results-focused evaluation to learning-oriented evaluative theory in the context of school-university partnerships with professional learning agendas. Also discussed are the influences of the transition on individual practitioners and their organizations. (Author/SLD)

Describes the evaluation of the Fighting Back initiative, in which communities across the country receive funding to combat alcohol and drug use. The evaluation has been designed to be responsive to national policy agendas and local community contextual differences so that it yields important insights at both levels. (Author/SLD)

Legislative evaluators can inform state policymakers who face policy and budget decisions related to large and complex federal programs such as Medicaid. Unlike lobbyists, advocates, and other stakeholders who support particular interests, legislative evaluators are uniquely positioned to provide independent and timely information to assist…

This eight chapters of this special issue introduce the use of a template to specify program components as a new tool for program evaluation. The template articulates the components needed for program delivery and provides a systematic method for assessing program implementation. (SLD)