Educational systems evaluation is a cyclical process of delineating, obtaining, and providing information for judging decision alternatives. As such, it encompasses much more than measurement. Methods for evaluating systems must be developed, because activities and orientations at this level differ from those of individual students, curricula, or…

Since computerized information systems have not been able to satisfy the growing need for management information by higher education administrators, an alternative approach is described. It places the needs of decision-makers before those of systems developers and outlines a process for the collection, evaluation, analysis, and interpretation of…

This document defines a wide range of measures of the outcomes (results or impacts) of postsecondary education institutions and their programs and suggests procedures for acquiring the data needed for each measure. The outcome measures described are ones identified by a survey of institutional and state-level decision makers as providing the…

A basis is provided for judging the adequacy of evaluation plans or evaluation designs in this document. It is assumed that using the procedures suggested to determine the adequacy of evaluation designs in advance of actually conducting evaluations will lead to better evaluation designs, better evaluations, and more useful evaluative information.…

Existing evaluation data sources for educational software need to be supplemented by local judgments since evaluation processes differ depending on the ultimate user and purpose for which the information is gathered. School districts should select evaluation models and modify them for local need based on utility, feasibility, propriety and…

The relationship between the importance of the objectives of a public school reading program and the extent of data collection efforts pertaining to these objectives was examined. The purpose of the study was to determine if the information collected was sufficient for teachers to make a continuous evaluation of the program's ability to meet the…

The lack of high quality data to describe and monitor U.S. educational systems hampers reform decisions and will impair reform evaluation. This paper sets forth the Council of Chief State School Officers' (CCSSO) recommendations for the Council and federal, state, and local education agencies to help improve the quality of educational indicators.…

The cross-levels hypothesis is presented as an explanation for program evaluation failures. It states that the usefulness of evaluation data as feedback for decision making varies inversely with the number of organizational levels between the action the data describe, and the decisions they are intended to influence. To be useful for decision…

A taxonomy of programmatic tasks in an educational evaluation and facilitation coordination system which encompasses tasks appropriate for evaluators, members of an evaluation unit, and members of facilitation and coordination units is proposed. In this comprehensive approach to the evaluation process, the taxonomy classifies and specifies tasks…

A model for the assessment of funded vocational and career education projects presents a methodology for collecting data on innovative processes and materials, selecting promising practices, compiling selected innovative practices in a handbook, and dissemination of promising practices. The authors include a flow chart for the selection…

The study summarizes discussions and conclusions of the Regional Workshop on Monitoring and Evaluation of Rural Development Projects in East Africa (Nairobi, Kenya, April 1979), whose purpose was to share lessons learned from field experiences in managing information for rural development. An initial section summarizes information in papers…