In this commentary, we examine Braverman's insights into the trade-offs between feasibility and rigor in evaluation measures and reject his assessment of the trade-off as a zero-sum game. We, argue that feasibility and policy salience are, like reliability and validity, intrinsic to the definition of a good measure. To reduce the tension between…

The 50-item Utilization Enhancement Checklist involves: determining evaluator role; understanding organizational context; planning; conducting the evaluation; and communicating evaluative information. The checklist is presented as a summary of the preceding nine articles. (Available from: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 433 California St., San Francisco, CA…

Author cites the benefits of a multi-level reporting technique for use in making training evaluation reports. (GB)

A successful school program evaluation is re-examined to determine what made it successful. Suggestions for future evaluations include: (1) observe the political context of the program; (2) select a useful research design; (3) be sensitive to the subjects; and (4) discuss preliminary findings and be open to rebuttals. (JKS)

Discusses the increasing emphasis on evaluation in the fields of training and performance improvement. Suggests considering why the evaluation is being done, what is being evaluated, and how the data will be used to make it more useful. (LRW)

Evaluators of basic units in higher education should be explicit about the motives, object, organization, criteria, methods, dissemination, and impacts of evaluation efforts to avoid being counterproductive. (Author/MSE)

Guidelines are presented for the evaluation of college administrators: (1) purposes of the evaluation; (2) approaches to evaluation; (3) criteria for evaluation; (4) participants or evaluators in the process; and (5) evaluation results and use of results. (GDC)

Four steps to curriculum innovation are outlined: (1) identifying descriptive dimensions; (2) specifying practices implied by the innovation; (3) describing actual practices; and (4) comparing actual with intended practices across the critical dimensions of beliefs, objectives, instructional materials, and teaching strategies. (Author/CP)

The lack of utilization of evaluation studies is criticized. It is suggested that program directors be asked to submit proposals to evaluators which will demonstrate that the directors are competent to utilize the information provided and to assess the quality of the evaluation. (JKS)

This investigation employed an in-basket simulation to assess the effect of provisional analysis on the use of evaluation data by program administrators in making program decisions. Sixty-five volunteers from graduate education courses and 52 volunteers from undergraduate educational psychology classes at Western Kentucky University were randomly…

A basis is provided for judging the adequacy of evaluation plans or evaluation designs in this document. It is assumed that using the procedures suggested to determine the adequacy of evaluation designs in advance of actually conducting evaluations will lead to better evaluation designs, better evaluations, and more useful evaluative information.…

The cross-levels hypothesis is presented as an explanation for program evaluation failures. It states that the usefulness of evaluation data as feedback for decision making varies inversely with the number of organizational levels between the action the data describe, and the decisions they are intended to influence. To be useful for decision…

Five methods of faculty evaluation used at the University of Illinois are described: student evaluations--including questionnaires; written comments, and group interviews; self-evaluation; and evaluation by colleagues. (GDC)

This handbook outlines procedures for evaluating a school guidance program. Defined first are the concept of guidance evaluation and basic terms in guidance evaluation. The purpose of guidance evaluation is discussed. Covered in a description of problems and difficulties in doing guidance evaluation are general problems; problems relating to…

It is important for assessment programs in higher education to provoke good internal evaluation efforts, but it is also hard to turn an assessment program into a viable evaluation program. This is because there are so many different audiences for the information being gathered about programs. Assessment as discussed in higher education literature…