As readers of "Assessment Update" know, the call for assessment is sweeping over the globe, so much so that faculty and administrators are finding it difficult to ignore it--though many may wish they could. Unfortunately, awareness does not lead to an increase in assessment implementation because fear of assessment is still widespread. The push…

This discussion foregrounds four key issues engaged by the articles presented in this special issue: the unique challenges and opportunities of environmental education evaluation, how to think well about the evaluation approaches and purposes that best match this domain, evaluation capacity building in environmental education and action, and…

This report presents the outcomes of the analysis of Grade Level of Achievement (GLA) data at the provincial level to inform the program planning and evaluation needs of Alberta Education as well as school and central office based administrators. GLA data reported to Alberta Education is a teacher's judgment of a student's academic progress. GLA…

The challenges of educational accountability and the National Consumer Health and Promotion Act of 1976 make clear the present need for systematic action in evaluating the value and effectiveness of school health education programs. (MB)

Entertains some general ideas about what arts accountability might look like, keeping in mind the obvious though often overlooked premise that testing should always be in the interests of the children tested. States why accountability is good for reasons beyond its perceived political expediency and outlines some of the major features necessary…

Suggests that the demand for accountability is well taken provided that those who design programs and those who assess them are also held responsible. Theory and practice, including evaluation are to be reviewed in reciprocal relationship to each other. (Author/AM)

This paper examines the conditions under which it is appropriate to use a productivity framework for evaluating education and human service programs. It also discusses three specific limitations on the applicability of productivity analyses. (Author/AM)

Six deficits of this model are discussed: disparity in proponent prowess, fallible arbiters, excessive confidence in the model's potency, difficulties in framing the proposition in a manner amenable to adversary resolution, "a cat's-paw for biased decision makers," and, excessive costs. (Author/JM)

In order to determine how much objective evidence exists regarding the effectiveness of career education programs in U.S. schools, American Institutes for Research in Behavioral Sciences (AIR) conducted a comprehensive, national search for well-evaluated activities. The initial nominations of 394 programs were received from state career education…

This paper examines the issues arising when a set of federally funded model demonstration projects, the secondary curricula/student transition projects of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, were obligated by federal initiative to improve the amount, quality, and use of evaluation. These issues included: (1) the nature of…

This paper presents a working definition of educational accountability, reasons for the accountability movement in education, events and major problems. Educational accountability is a process of setting goals, making available adequate resources to meet those goals, and conducting regular evaluation to determine if the goals are met. The reasons…

Production function applications to improve the efficiency of educational programs require identification of inputs and outputs and the establishment of a data bank to provide information on input and output variables. This generalizable input identification model organizes inputs for systems analysis at various levels of inputs and provides a…

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…

Review of congressional hearings leading to the enactment of the Education Amendments of 1974 (Public Law 93-380), the initial response of the United States Office of Education, and the study conducted by the National Institute of Education as mandated in Section 821 of PL 93-380. (MH)