Reflecting on his experiences as an evaluation consultant at the Suez Canal University Faculty of Medicine in Egypt the author discusses: (1) implications of the Egyptian political context; (2) adapting to the host culture; and (3) maintaining distance from one's own culture. Personal qualities to complement the recommended naturalistic methods…

Reviews eight (seven published) efforts to secure a relative evaluation of accredited North American library schools, and reproduces rankings of each effort. Pros and cons of different evaluative methods are discussed and evaluation results showing consistency in rankings of top five to ten schools are compared. Thirteen references are included.…

One of the reasons that social studies has developed slowly in the K-12 schools of Nigeria is that both teachers and examiners doubt that adequate evaluation devices can be employed to fairly assess learning outcomes. Some social studies evaluation tools are defined, and possible ways for teachers to use them are discussed. (RM)

Threshold analysis (TA) is introduced as an evaluation model. TA converts unknown variables into questions as to whether a given benefit, cost, or success probability is more or less than a threshold, above which the proposed project would be profitable, and below which it would be unprofitable. (Author/PN)

Describes four stages of the assessment of instructional materials: (1) research and development; (2) assessment of prototype materials; (3) formative evaluation; and (4) summative evaluation as used in the Vocabulary Development Project. (DEP)

Among the questions that are asked are the following: who will assess Black Studies at white universities; how will the assessment and evaluation be handled; and what criteria for assessment will be used. (Author/AM)

This monograph contains the instruments designed or modified by the research staff of the Urban Systemic Initiative (USI) during the course of the evaluation research grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Because the project was designed to determine the impact of USI reform in four cities and to test the NSF Six-Driver model for…

This paper describes the difficult task of performing a critical evaluation of a Professional Development School (PDS). The paper notes the often contradictory opinions of the stakeholders in regard to acceptable conceptual models and the tensions involved. The description is a result of active participation in PDS related activities, document…

This report compares the assumptions and values embedded in scoring criteria used in five states (Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oregon, and Vermont) for alternate assessments of students with significant cognitive disabilities. The five states use different alternate assessment approaches, including portfolio assessment, performance assessment,…

Major policy debates have arisen around the subject of vouchers as an alternative for financing and organizing the educational system. To a large degree, comparisons between vouchers and the traditional system of educational finance and school operations have been limited to one or two dimensions of education such as the relative impact of a…

This publication is the result of 20 months of work by the members of the U.S. Department of Education's Educational Technology Expert Panel. From September 1998 to April 2000, the Panel met a total of five times to discuss its mandate (i.e., to evaluate educational programs and recommend to the Secretary of Education those programs that should be…

During the 2001-02 academic year, a purposive, national evaluation was undertaken of "Windows on Literacy" and "Reading Expeditions," two new school-based programs produced by the School Publishing Division of the National Geographic Society (NGS). The evaluation sought to determine the efficacy of the new materials for…

A modular campus conflict management evaluation toolkit prepared by the Conflict Management in Higher Education Resource Center. Topic areas covered include a general orientation to evaluation research, special resources related to mediation evaluation, and sample tools for Needs Assessment, Process Monitoring, Summative Evaluation and the…

School improvement is a continuous, systematic process to enhance student learning, improve educational opportunities, and increase the effectiveness of the educational programs and services provided to students. The Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP) is an ongoing process that includes assessing the strengths and needed improvements in…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to develop a program evaluation template to be used for primary care residencies. Programs were reviewed by meta-evaluation, interviews, and a focus group. Interviews and focus groups were held with four primary care program directors, two medical educators, and one accreditation site surveyor. Survey…