Common university budgeting practices are summarized, and the efforts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (New York) to develop an improved analytical method are described. The method, revenue and expense analysis, evaluates the university's financial operating performance by treating each school and program as autonomous financial organizations,…

Seventy clients participated in eight focus groups intended to identify clients' perceptions of vocational rehabilitation program strengths and weaknesses. The advantages of using a social science model applied to focus groups and the ways client empowerment can be a central theme in such efforts are explored. (SLD)

This paper reviews analytic methods for estimating growth curves or developmental trajectories from longitudinal data. Traditional models for studying change are contrasted with a relatively new method, hierarchical linear models. Evidence is presented indicating that hierarchical linear models can overcome some of the methodological limitations…

The lack of adequate and appropriate methods for assessing the effectiveness of interdisciplinary higher education programs is discussed. Barriers to evaluation are examined and examples of locally designed and standardized program evaluation measures are described briefly and compared. Specific recommendations are made for designing evaluations.…

This article describes a program for preschool children with speech language disorders, based on collaborative consultation during both assessment and program development processes. The article discusses program assumptions concerning child needs, the role of language, knowledge acquisition, and service accessibility in terms of the roles of…

The current conceptualization in the mental retardation-developmental disability field regarding quality of life, quality enhancement, and quality assurance is summarized. Implications of these issues for program planning and evaluation are discussed, with attention to management and a framework for quality assurance. (SLD)

This article promotes the use of contextual constructionism in evaluation research. The call for truth in sentencing in Tennessee (and across the country) is used to illustrate the conflict among stakeholders that arises from program evaluation and to show how their multiple realities make a contextual constructionist approach pertinent. (SLD)

This study compared three written surveys intended to help identify family strengths and needs during the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) process. Subjects were 48 mothers of children enrolled in early intervention programs and 25 program providers. Mothers tended to prefer written surveys to personal interviews and rated the surveys'…

An evaluation of the University of Colorado's posttenure faculty peer review process found that, although the process was successful in identifying faculty whose efforts might be reinvigorated through faculty development, the resources to effect change had seldom been forthcoming. The most useful aspect of the review was the most neglected. (MSE)

Describes Education Information Centers (EICs) in public libraries in New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Nebraska that have been funded by the Kellogg Foundation to serve adults who are in a job, education, or career transition. Career assessment software is reviewed, outreach strategies are described, and future plans are…

An evaluation instrument, DataPac, was developed and pilot-tested to assess the efficacy of corporate health promotion programs. This article reports results of a study to evaluate the DataPac questionnaire for construct validity, criterion validity, and stability reliability. Implications for worksite health programs are discussed. (IAH)

This article describes an ongoing survey that illustrates how evaluators, working with program managers, have effectively used client-based data to monitor performance in the Social Security Administration. The value of client-based data outweighs the limitations and problems collecting it. Customer perceptions are a critical barometer of quality.…

This article discusses development of the Blind Rehabilitation Services Functional Outcomes Survey during a research project on the rehabilitation of adults with visual impairments. It describes the development process, the methods used in establishing survey reliability and validity, and the results of intermediate analyses of the data. (Contains…

Conducted focus groups with 37 high school students receiving mental health services, 24 students not receiving services, 28 parents, and 47 therapists, administrators, and health care staff to gauge the quality and effectiveness of an expanded school mental health program. Identifies effective aspects of the therapy and discusses implications for…

Examines changes in teachers' understandings of developmentally appropriate practices in early childhood education after attending a two-week summer institute that used a teaching case as an assessment tool. Finds that the institute impacted all attendees in a positive and statistically significant manner. (RS)