This article defines educational evaluation; describes its role in education; and compares and contrasts it to measurement, research, and learner appraisal. Evaluation is shown to have an important role in play in education, notably in relation to program improvement. Limitations of educational evaluation are noted. (Author/JAZ)

The results of a college of optometry graduate survey, designed to gather information on how the clinical program has prepared professionals for practice during the last 10 years, are reported and the questionnaire used is included. (MSE)

In evaluation, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts when quantitative and qualitative approaches and methods are combined. Some circumstances in which both approaches can be effectively combined are considered, and case studies of two evaluations using multiple methods are presented. (LMO)

This article offers an integrated approach to government program evaluation and an organizational model that clearly identifies the central role of evaluation in organizational life. This view includes: outcome evaluation; benefit-cost analysis; human rights; the level and distribution of benefits, costs, and rights; and a systems model of…

Describes the group evaluation procedure in higher education with its incorporation of unstructured and focused interviewing of small student groups, along with evaluator's and students' roles. Its theoretical basis, the clarification of data and data feedback through use of this method, and its advantages are discussed. Fifteen references are…

Describes a screening device, the Barclay Early Childhood Skill Assessment System (BECSAS), which uses teacher, child, and parent input and spells out possible intervention strategies based on specific deficits. Reports the use of the BECSAS to analyze the relationship between parent education level and student skill deficits. (JAC)

Possible reasons for conducting evaluations of college and university courses are outlined, and the evaluation system developed at the Australian National University is described. Sources of information for teachers to use in making course improvements are suggested. (MSE)

Researcher and educator Charles Cooper responds to questions about writing evaluation theories, contexts, methods, and instruments. (FL)

Developmental testing at the Open University is a type of formative evaluation in which a small sample of students work through learning materials to determine their effectiveness. On the basis of student feedback, the material may be accepted as it stands, modified in part, or totally revised before it is produced in its final form for the…

The contributors to this issue ground their articles on one or more of these principles: (1) Evaluation theory and practice should reflect a society that advances democracy; (2) In an evaluation context, there should be a redistribution of power relationships accomplished by "democratizing knowledge" and acknowledging the value of different types…

Children enter grade 1 at an island school in Kosrae, Micronesia with a rich oral language and very little experience with print. One of the main tasks of teachers is to help children become literate. However, the literacy and assessment practices in this early grade classroom are limited and unquestioned. In determining how best to teach early…

The objective of this study was to determine the feasibility of process-outcome evaluation in a broad-aim social program. Researchers collaborated with program staff to create outcome measures and measures of the services provided. Interventions for different groups of program participants were analyzed, using data on 122 children from…

As part of a program to increase the quality and availability of inclusive childcare and early childhood education in Maine, the University of Maine in Orono developed an instrument to assess inclusive child care programs. Eight of the 16 Child Development Services sites in Maine's early intervention system participated in developing and…

The research capacity of agricultural education was studied from the perspective of individual institutions and the profession through data collected from agricultural education faculty, primarily department administrators, representing 12 land grant institutions. Respondents were asked to provide information regarding faculty, graduate students,…

State assessment systems must address both technical and policy issues as assessments and accountability practices are developed and implemented. These technical and policy issues have been expanded from traditional large-scale assessment to new alternative assessment approaches required by law and developed in every state. The primary purpose of…