The study develops a method for monitoring and management of the quality of educational programs using software instruments. The method describes each of the monitoring implementation stages in detail specifying the input and output data, as well as the controls that affect the time and quality of the implementation of the corresponding stage.…

An evaluability assessment of a program to save a critically endangered bird helped prepare the Blue-throated Macaw Environmental Education Project for evaluation and program improvement. The evaluability assessment facilitated agreement among key stakeholders on evaluation criteria and intended uses of evaluation information in order to maximize…

One major problem in developing school district budgets immune to cuts is the model administrators traditionally use--an expenditure model. The simplicity of this model is seductive: What were the revenues and expenditures last year? What are the expected revenues and expenditures this year? A few adjustments here and there and one has a budget.…

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…

This monograph defines program evaluation as the process of placing a value on a program, with the two major benefits of evaluation being those of expanding the base for decisionmaking, and the providing of information to motivate the individual, or unit, to improve performance. Most importantly, program evaluation is needed to determine if a…

If properly handled, reallocation can provide a rich opportunity for enhancing quality, but there is no easy way to reallocate resources. Planning will remain the key to resolving the thorniest issues of reduction. (Author/MLW)

Limited resources and competing demands are forcing statewide planners and decisionmakers to become increasingly concerned with program approval and review. One new element is the review of existing programs as states find it necessary to consider program additions in concert with program terminations. The prospect of declining or stable…

Many problems are encountered when evaluating a complex, decentralized national program such as 4-H. Good effects of the federal evaluation mandate include local concern with program quality. Bad effects include that local agencies are forced to utilize noxious methodologies or to collect information they consider to be unimportant. (Author/GC)

Presented here are reviews of the reports from the National Institute of Education (NIE) on the Compensatory Education Study (an evaluation of compensatory education programs in the United States). Ernest House's article addresses the evaluation study directly. It covers the study's assessment of funding allocations, program administration,…

As a result of an evaluation of Florida State community service programs financed under Title I of the Higher Education Act of 1965, a set of 16 guidelines was drawn up. The first six, in order of priority, are: a project should be directed toward filling a community (rather than an institutional) need; objectives should be realistic and…

This study attempts to develop a decision framework to aid project directors in planning change under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Literature on change, the change process, decisions, and the decision process is reviewed and a framework within which to study planned change is constructed. Decision making, in the change…

This paper suggests that while evaluation means different things to different people, the focus is characteristically on what has been, or is being done. It is proposed that evaluation also be applied to things not yet done; that evaluation has a significant and continuous role in planning any educational program. Evaluation is seen as…

This report critically reviews past benefit-cost studies of manpower programs and offers an alternative methodology for program evaluation. Because of selective admission criteria and a tendency to attribute all income changes to training, previous studies have had an upward bias in measuring the effectiveness of training. This study evaluates a…

Focuses on program evaluation of vocational education from four different starting points (context, input, process, and product evaluation) and the purposes to which each is directed. (Editor/TA)

Shrinking resources were a primary reason for the development of systematic program evaluation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, beginning in 1971. The first three programs in the evaluation cycle were also scheduled for accreditation visits by their respective professional associations. Although the three programs are generally…