This paper outlines some of the general characteristics of current LEA (Local Educational Agency)-inspired self-evaluation schemes and suggests that they may be usefully viewed from an organizational development standpoint. The construction and use of a self-evaluation instrument which was informed by such a perspective is briefly described.…

An expanded vision of evaluation is offered that accommodates the use of both descriptive information and evaluative information, and which connects evaluation in the naturalistic paradigm with evaluation in the rationalistic paradigm for making informed decisions within programs of education and development. The model of "Information Development…

Action research, which, broadly defined, was one of the activities in which educators following in the footsteps of John Dewey engaged, emerged as a systematic approach for improving educational practice in the two decades following World War II. Action research then passed into relative obscurity. It has recently re-emerged in the educational…

A 6-year study of outdoor-based management training (OMT) programs used traditional evaluation methods and new methods designed specifically for these unique programs. A survey of 1,000 training directors indicated that this type of training was very controversial. The next step was to use traditional training and organizational behavior…

Industrial and organizational psychologists for the Department of Defense have been working for the past 10 years to develop high fidelity measures of job performance for use in validating job selection procedures and standards. Information on developing and scoring performance exercises in the Job Performance Measurement (JPM) Project is…

A summary is presented of a study to determine the impact of school authority systems on student disengagement from high school. Student disengagement is defined as the extent to which students refrain from participating in activities offered as part of the school program, tasks of scholarship and citizenship, and extracurricular activities. The…

This report details the findings of a study to determine the impact of school authority systems on student disengagement from high school. The study, guided by Dornbusch and Scott's theory of evaluation and authority, examined the impact of four types of incompatibilities in the system for the evaluation of student performance on three forms of…

These proceedings contain 14 papers and notes from 2 symposia in English and 2 papers in French. Abstracts appear at the beginning of the volume. The following papers are included: "Symposium Notes: What Is the Future of Adult Education in Canada?" (Bernard, MacNeil, Selman); "John Dewey Dialogues with an Adult Educator in…

These four papers are from a symposium on evaluation in human resource development (HRD). "Assessing Organizational Readiness for Learning through Evaluative Inquiry" (Hallie Preskill, Rosalie T. Torres) reviews how evaluative inquiry can facilitate organizational learning; argues HRD evaluation should be reconceptualized as a process…

Recent Australian and overseas studies on evaluation of enterprises' return on training investment (ROTI) were reviewed to identify key issues in encouraging increased evaluation of training benefits by enterprises and successful approaches that may inform future "enterprise-friendly" studies of ROTI. It was concluded that more…

This book examines the rhetoric surrounding the notion of informal learning in order to expand debate about the uses of informal learning in workplaces and about attempts to "recognize" it through competency-based standards. The following topics are among those discussed in the book's eight chapters: (1) the nature of informal learning…

This book, which is intended as a text for future and experienced adult educators, examines current theories and best practices in adult education. The book consists of 20 chapters written by prominent practitioners in the field of adult education. The chapter titles and authors are as follows: "Teachers Sharing Experiences" (James A. Draper);…

These proceedings begin with the schedule, conference committee membership lists, and detailed agenda of the 1998 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development, which explored the relationship between learning and performance. Presented next are papers grouped by the conference's 35 symposium topics, which are as follows: university…

This two-volume document contains the proceedings of the 2000 conference of the Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD). Volume 1 contains the following materials: conference overview; text of a town forum on social responsibility and human resource development (HRD); papers from symposia 1-24; and papers from innovative sessions 1-4. The…