For more than four decades the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) has tracked the achievement of U.S. students in major academic subjects. This national resource is the only assessment that states and now many urban districts can look to as an objective yardstick of their performance over time, relative to national benchmarks, and…

In this chapter, the author proposes a model for assessing institutional effectiveness. The Volkwein model for assessing institutional effectiveness consists of five parts that summarize the steps for assessing institutions, programs, faculty, and students. The first step in the model distinguishes the dual purposes of institutional effectiveness:…

Evaluative statements from alumni have legitimacy with both internal and external stakeholders. Thus, alumni studies can provide valuable evidence of institutional effectiveness and lend themselves to both locally designed and commercial survey instruments for data collection. Under ideal conditions, the results of alumni studies equip faculty and…

An assessment framework is like a blueprint, laying out the basic design of the assessment by describing the mathematics content that should be tested and the types of assessment questions that should be included. It also describes how the various design factors should be balanced across the assessment. This is an assessment framework, not a…

This paper helps researchers develop criteria for conducting surveys. Cost considerations frame the paper's suggestions. Specifically, the text advises that researchers consider the human and material resources needed, type of survey instrument, medium for conducting the survey (mail, telephone, personal interview, etc.), data analysis…

Three different approaches to metaevaluation are described and shown to have been applied to the study of Project Follow Through. These approaches include evaluation of primary evaluations, integrative meta-analysis in which results from several primary evaluations are combined, and secondary analysis involving the independent reanalysis of the…

The organization of data at the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is undergoing a significant transition from a system designed only for national assessment purposes to one designed both for assessment and a variety of academic research interests. The advent of NAEP public-use data files opens up many possibilities for those who…

Approaches to data analysis used by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and possible alternative methodologies are reviewed. Since various components of the NAEP model affect analysis, key elements of that model, including procedures for developing objectives and exercises, drawing the sample, collecting data and reporting…

Advances in cognitive psychology deepen the understanding of how students gain and use knowledge and broaden the range of performances and situations researchers want to see to acquire evidence about students' developing knowledge. Advances in technology make it possible to capture more complex performances in assessment settings by including, as…

This study was a replication of an earlier study by Mazyck (1971) which was designed to analyze characteristics of paraprofessional child care workers, as determined by ratings given on a scale of paraprofessional worker characteristics. The original study is reviewed and the development of the Mazyck Rating Scale for Paraprofessionals, is…

This paper focuses on the mechanics of assessing the impact of educational technology. The basics of program evaluation, research design, data collection and analysis, and report generation are covered to provide useful information to those responsible for program evaluation research and to decision makers, who are the usual recipients of…

This workbook, which accompanies An Evaluation Primer (TM 007 500) consists of 19 practical exercises for applying evaluation skills to hypothetical educational programs. Each chapter corresponds to a chapter in the primer, with answers keyed accordingly. Intended to provide an introduction to evaluation, the exercises include: identifying the…

This manual has been produced to familiarize data users with the procedures followed for data collection and processing of the first follow-up component of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88). A corollary objective is to provide the necessary documentation for use of the data file. Use of the data set does not require the…

The work of the Program Effectiveness Panel (PEP) of the United States Department of Education was examined. The PEP is the Department of Education's primary means of certifying or validating the effectiveness of educational programs. Thirty-three educational programs were validated by the PEP between January 1988 and December 1990. Over time,…

Intended for those who are concerned with evaluation but do not have an extensive background, this textbook helps students, scientists, evaluators, and administrators conduct and interpret evaluations. It deals with evaluations in all social action programs--health, education, and welfare. The focus is on basic procedures, rather than on theory,…