For purposes of categorizing those things that perhaps determine the extent to which evaluation findings will be utilized, four sets of factors are considered in this paper: (1) the decision maker/decision process, (2) the program and social context, (3) the nature of the evaluator , and (4) the evaluation process/evaluation report. (Author/RC)

Evaluation as a process of obtaining and providing useful information for making educational decisions is discussed with reference to the concepts expressed in "The New Rhetoric: A Treatise on Argumentation." The need for the evaluator to know the approaches, interests, and values of the decision maker is discussed. (CTM)

A successful school program evaluation is re-examined to determine what made it successful. Suggestions for future evaluations include: (1) observe the political context of the program; (2) select a useful research design; (3) be sensitive to the subjects; and (4) discuss preliminary findings and be open to rebuttals. (JKS)

This investigation employed an in-basket simulation to assess the effect of provisional analysis on the use of evaluation data by program administrators in making program decisions. Sixty-five volunteers from graduate education courses and 52 volunteers from undergraduate educational psychology classes at Western Kentucky University were randomly…

To examine the impact of program evaluation information upon decision making, case studies were conducted of five different programs: (1) a diagnostic teaching kindergarten program (K-LEAD), funded under the Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title I; (2) Project MORE, an ESEA Title IV-C funded junior high school program dealing with school…

This Stufflebeam-Guba CIPP type model for the evaluation of innovations in education attempts to maximize the effectiveness of critical decisions through the timely reporting of relevant information in a useful form to appropirate levels of decision making. Evaluation is thus seen as the combination of effective decisions based on timely, relevant…

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.…

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…

Evaluations by school district research and evaluation units have minimal impact, because they do not meet the realities of school district decision making. School districts are loosely coupled systems that do not respond to centralized planning or evaluations, particularly if findings are unfavorable. To maximize utilization of their findings,…

A survey of administrators, teachers, and parents in 15 Elementary Secondary Education Act Title I school districts indicated that evaluations are used locally to meet federal and state requirements, to inform parents and staff, and to confirm positive attitudes toward a program. Standardized achievement tests, the backbone of Title I evaluations,…

The judicial branches of government have unique needs for evaluative information and limited resources; this must be recognized in order to increase the utilization of applied social research by courts and lawyers. (Available from: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 433 California St., San Francisco, CA 94104, single issue, $6.95.) (GDC)

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…

Following a brief history of the Title I Evaluation and Reporting System (TIERS) and the development of the RMC models and technical assistance centers, plans are described for activities to increase the usefulness of the evaluation data for local decision making. Three major kinds of activities are explained: projects developed by an Evaluation…

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…

This handbook on locally directed evaluation (LDE) is designed as a practical guide for vocational and other school administrators to use in initiating or improving evaluation activities carried out at the local level. It is divided into seven sections. Each section includes an evaluation instrument, the purpose of the evaluation activity, and…