Studies of data use illuminate ways in which education professionals have used test scores and other evidence relevant to students' learning--in action in their own contexts of work--to make decisions about their practice. These studies raise instructive challenges for a validity theory that focuses on intended interpretations and uses of test…

Increasing demands for accountability from both the public and the government have resulted in increasing pressure for higher education professionals to use data to support their choices. There is significant speculation that professionals at all levels of education lack the knowledge to implement data-driven decision making. However, empirical…

Examines the conceptual framework of bipolar models of social knowledge use that are transactions between knowledge producers and decision makers. Topics discussed include methodological consequences of bipolar models; levels of validity in social research; social contexts of choosing models for social research; and views on the practice of…

A procedure to relate funding decisions and project evaluations in an annual grant program for vocational education administered by a state education department (SED) is described. Objectives of the study included developing a set of predictor variables for funding decisions, and outcome variables for evaluating decisions; determining consensus…

Evaluation roles used in the Department of Research and Development in the Cincinnati Public Schools are identified and described. These include: project evaluator, local-school evaluator, independent program evaluator, external evaluator and external auditors. The merits of each evaluation role will be discussed as to its relationship with…

Information reporting at traditionally black colleges and universities was reviewed, based on the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS) files for 36 institutions. The objective was to determine the quality of the data submitted by seven of these institutions, and to suggest actions for improving the quality of the HEGIS information…