Cost-effectiveness analysis is rarely used in education. When it is used, it often fails to meet methodological standards, especially with regard to cost measurement. Although there are occasional criticisms of these failings, we believe that it is useful to provide a listing of the more common concerns and how they might be addressed. Based upon…

The landscape of medical education is continuously evolving, as are the needs of the learner. The appropriate use of research and evaluation is key when assessing the need for change and instituting one's innovative endeavours. This paper demonstrates how research seeks to generate new knowledge, whereas evaluation uses information acquired from…

Using data strategically to guide decisions and actions can have a positive effect on education practices and processes. This facilitation guide shows education data teams how to move beyond simply reporting data to applying data to direct strategic action. Using guiding questions, suggested activities, and activity forms, this guide provides…

The authors aimed to incorporate learning into the cognitive assessment framework that exists for static assessment data. In order to accomplish this, they derive a common likelihood function for dynamic models and introduce Parameter Driven Process for Change + Cognitive Diagnosis Model (PDPC + CDM), a dynamic model which tracks learning…

This guide is designed to help districts and schools evaluate reform efforts related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), including School Improvement Grants. It includes practical, how-to tips for conducting program evaluations, whether one takes a "do-it-yourself" approach or seeks outside assistance to evaluate reform…

In many school districts, the pressure to raise test scores has created overnight celebrity status for formative assessment. Its powers to raise student achievement have been touted, however, without attending to the research on which these claims were based. Sociocultural learning theory provides theoretical grounding for understanding how…

Postmodern approaches to school-level evaluation by building on the fourth-generation evaluation model developed by E. Guba and Y. Lincoln are suggested. It is argued that this conceptualization of evaluation has particular relevance for development of alternative evaluation practices among stakeholders that can improve the use of evaluation…

This theme issue discusses the misuse of evaluation. The eight articles all discuss instances in which the evaluation process or evaluation findings were misused. Misuse is usually not the result of methodological issues but rather is an issue of human relations and sometimes of political pressure. (SLD)

Current conceptualizations of participatory evaluation are reviewed, presenting some definitions, various rationales for its use, and a general discussion with implications for future applications. Participatory evaluation creates a learning framework in which evaluation findings are processed and accumulated by end-users in the very process of…

Presents a history of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), focusing on procedural changes from 1969 to date and questions whether NAEP results should be used for accountability purposes. It recommends that NAEP should be insulated from reform efforts and that NAEP's monitoring of population levels of educational achievement…

The nine-volume Survey Kit is designed to help readers prepare and conduct surveys and become better users of survey results. All the books in the series contain instructional objectives, exercises and answers, examples of surveys in use, illustrations of survey questions, guidelines for action, checklists of "dos and don'ts," and…

In recognition of the reduction in the number of educational evaluators functioning in the nation's schools, it is argued that educational evaluation must be promoted because of its direct and personal benefit to the individuals who authorize such evaluations. An argument is presented to use with authorizers of evaluation studies. (Author/SLD)

The nine-volume Survey Kit is designed to help readers prepare and conduct surveys and become better users of survey results. All the books in the series contain instructional objectives, exercises and answers, examples of surveys in use, illustrations of survey questions, guidelines for action, checklists of "dos and don'ts," and…

This paper presents the evolution of and the lessons learned from a research approach to assessment of student outcomes, specifically of student academic achievement, being used by the Puerto Rico Statewide Systemic Initiative (PR-SSI), which is one of the statewide systemic initiatives for science and mathematics sponsored by the National Science…

Highlights several articles that raise questions about the role of research in educational reform. These articles argue over the use of National Assessment of Educational Progress results for accountability purposes; and the advisability of using cost-benefit analysis in critiquing educational reform proposals, and particularly, in evaluating the…