Over the past few decades there has been a rise in the number of federally funded large scientific research initiatives, with increased calls to evaluate their processes and outcomes. This article describes efforts to evaluate such initiatives in one agency within the U.S. federal government. The authors introduce the Evaluation of Large…

The General Accounting Office (GAO) examined the feasibility of assessing the quality of the federal civilian work force, focusing on professional and administrative staff. The agency developed a measurable definition of quality centered on attributes of the individual and the match of the individual's capabilities to the needs of the job. It…

Evaluation management requires a system for measuring, improving, and accounting for quality. The Institute for Program Evaluation in the United States General Accounting Office is developing such a system. (Author)

The degree of control that project directors exert over the technical direction of evaluations and the selection of evaluation staff is examined, and the way in which control has grown and shrunk over the past decade is considered. (Author)

When the federal Commission on the Future of Higher Education delivered its final report to the secretary of education in September, accreditors and many higher-education leaders breathed a small sigh of relief. The document did not endorse an early recommendation that the current accreditation system be completely dismantled. Now, though, just a…