The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evaluates research studies that look at the effectiveness of education programs, products, practices, and policies, which the WWC calls "interventions." Many studies of education interventions make claims about impacts on students' outcomes. Some studies have designs that enable readers to make causal…

Summative assessment of interpretation is widely conducted in interpreting courses/programs to inform high-stakes decision making, such as the selection, certification, and conferral of academic degrees. Yet there has been very limited empirical research to investigate the score dependability of summative interpretation assessment. The present…

Each year a great many evaluations are conducted of international development efforts around the world. These development evaluations study projects, programs, country-wide portfolios, policy reform efforts, and other topics of interest to funders, governments, program managers, and other involved stakeholders. Although some of these evaluations…

The advice of evaluators is useful in the planning of program objectives because the program will eventually be evaluated on the basis of these objectives. This paper provides two tools for the development of program objectives. The "Levels of Program Objectives" method focuses on the intended outcomes of a program. The levels range from the…

This paper shares the outcomes of a developmental process designed to create a comprehensive teacher assessment program within a local school district. The paper includes a rationale that helps to explain the need for developing teacher evaluation systems different from most current models, the processes used to create the assessment program, and…

When formative feedback in teacher evaluation programs results in a summative decision, teacher evaluation programs fulfill both formative and summative needs. Teacher evaluation programs that fulfill both formative and summative needs should include components such as consistent and just policies and procedures; evaluation criteria that agree…

The first stage of an evaluation and academic management project to be carried out at Bath University is presented. Included are the background to course evaluation, a proposed model, the development and testing of the model in the context of an innovative biology course at Queen's University, and the transferability of the model to other courses.…

The Commission for Teacher Preparation and Licensing of the State of California has for the past three years been operating an External Assessment Pilot Project. Community and professional constituents of teacher education programs review those programs to determine whether or not they conform to earlier program plans submitted to the commission…

Four experiential learning programs that are in the early stages of development are described. The report from the Consortium of the California State University and Colleges details the efforts of a traditional, decentralized system to introduce flexibility into the use of examinations for crediting prior learning. A description of a large,…

The Cooperative Assessment of Experiential Learning (CAEL) Project involves Educational Testing Service and some 250 member institutions. The purpose of the project is to develop procedures and materials that will be useful in strengthening the assessment of experiential learning in higher education. This report describes extensive findings that…