Adult learning policies, like any other policies, need to be effective: they need to reach their objectives and attain the desired impacts, which should be carefully defined. Understanding the performance of policies allows policy makers to change and improve them. A growing body of research and statistics provides important insights into how…

From a systems analysis viewpoint, an evaluation system is a subsystem that is superimposed on the educational system to provide information for decisions related to its maintenance and goals. Educational outcomes, viewed as a much broader concept than the traditional view of changes in pupil behavior, represent the starting point for any…

The Planning, Monitoring, and Implementation Model (PMI) was developed to provide a model for systematic evaluation of educational programs to determine their effectiveness in achieving goals and objectives. This paper demonstrates the applicability of the PMI model at the project level. Fresh Start Minischool at Ballou High School (District of…

The rationale for the Planning, Monitoring, and Implementation Model (PMI) is the subject of this paper. The Superintendent of the District of Columbia Public Schools requested a model for systematic evaluation of educational programs to determine their effectiveness. The school system's emphasis on objective-referenced instruction and testing,…

All of the papers presented as part of a symposium concerned the application of the Planning, Monitoring, and Implementation Model (PMI) to the evaluation of the District of Columbia Public Schools' programs supported by the Elementary Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title IV-C. PMI was developed to provide a model for systematic evaluation of…

The design of the Planning, Monitoring, and Implementation Model (PMI) and the aspects of the model that make it useful in public schools are the topics of this paper. After the objectives of a program or operation have been identified, the model specifies three additional pieces of information that are needed for an evaluation: inputs, processes,…

This paper discusses the rationale behind information-based approaches to school and systemic improvement and identifies some alternatives to the quality assurance model used in New South Wales (Australia). It outlines the structures established for identifying and reporting issues and trends on a systemic basis and discusses some of the…

A systems theory approach to information requirements in education and in evaluation strategies is applied to decision making. Educational decision making itself involves long range planning, system structuring to implement goals, system allocation (cost), and system monitoring which provides the feedback. Each level requires differential…

A practical application of the Planning, Monitoring, and Implementation Model (PMI) is illustrated in the evaluation of the District of Columbia Public Schools' Student Progress Plan. The plan adheres to the principle that the student be encouraged to move along an instructional continuum at his or her individual rate. The Division of Research and…

Pressures from both outside and inside the institution are making it imperative that community colleges improve their ability to document and articulate the outputs and impacts of their programs. This document addresses itself to this issue and to the problems associated with measurement of outcomes in postsecondary education. An approach taken by…

This 4-part document provides an overview of educational evaluation. Part I outlines the problems in educational evaluation, distinguishing between evaluations of student performance (objective attainment) and those of system operation (cost-effectiveness). Part II reviews existing practices in educational evaluation, focusing on the evaluation of…

Three models of educational evaluation are discussed: the intuitive decisions model, the experimental model, and the feedback model. The feedback model is most useful because it will provide baseline information about current accomplishments of the school systems. Once the feedback process is well underway, it is then profitable to discuss goals.…