Increased demand for accountability has forced Extension educators to evaluate their programs and document program impacts. Due to this situation, some Extension educators may view evaluation simply as the task, imposed on them by administrators, of collecting outcome and impact data for accountability. They do not perceive evaluation as a useful…

Evaluation of programs or projects is often perceived as a threat. This is to a great extent related to the anticipated use of evaluation for accountability, which is often prioritized at the expense of using evaluation as a learning tool. Frequently it is argued that there is a trade-off between these two evaluation functions. An alternative…

In the original paper, it was argued that while there is an array of methods and methodologies available, their use is delimited by the culture of accountability that prevails in public sector institutions, a fact that is particularly problematic given the complexity and diversity of evaluation contexts today. This short rejoinder, to responses…

The author enjoyed reading Katharine Hay's ambitious and humbling visions for evaluation field building in South Asia. She has successfully positioned herself on a high mountain with a wonderful set of binoculars that enable her to see the entire evaluation landscape of South Asia. She magically sees and describes significant historical forces and…

The formula is simple: Highly effective teachers equal student academic success. Yet, the physics of American education is anything but. Thus, the question facing education reformers is how can teacher effectiveness be accurately measured in order to improve the teacher workforce? Given the demand for objective, quantitative measures of teacher…

Recent legislative and local school accountability efforts have placed a premium on the collection, analysis, and use of student assessment data. Beyond state-based summative student achievement data, schools are searching for in-year information about student performance. As a result, school leaders are searching for the formative assessment…

This article considers the advantages and disadvantages of having evaluation users increase the specificity of evaluation requirements through a review of legislative requirements behind several congressionally mandated national-level evaluations, and an in-depth examination of one congressionally mandated evaluation in which very specific design…

Stresses the importance of devising accurate methods of evaluation rather than teaching material only because it can be easily evaluated. (DF)

This report explores changes in school policies and practices resulting from an externally mandated, high-stakes testing program. It is based on a study that investigated one Minnesota school district's transformation following the passage of a 1993 law mandating a results-oriented graduation rule. The paper outlines the role of testing programs…

This paper takes the position that shrinking resources and increasing accountability have forced counselors to reassess the role of evaluation. This new role should afford evaluation a higher priority so that it becomes as much a part of counseling as the interpersonal skills that currently form the bulk of counselor training programs. Some…

Given the fundamental program changes that have occurred in the nation's social programs since President Reagan took office, federal evaluation activities need to be rethought and redirected. It is critical that the utility of programs be documented, economical delivery services be developed, and redundancy of interventions be reduced to optimize…

This report reviews the benchmarking practices that are presently being used at community colleges. It introduces the concept of a "culture of inquiry" as a means for judging their potential value. It classifies benchmarking efforts among three types--performance, diagnostic, and process--and characterizes each by its typical use. The…

This document is comprised of the three 2002 issues of a newsletter of the Harvard Family Research Project, designed to share new ideas and experiences in evaluating systems reform and comprehensive child and family services. The Spring issue focuses on family support evaluations and their role in advancing the field of family support and includes…

Value-added modeling (VAM) to estimate school and teacher effects is currently of considerable interest to researchers and policymakers. Recent reports suggest that VAM demonstrates the importance of teachers as a source of variance in student outcomes. Policymakers see VAM as a possible component of education reform through improved teacher…