Evaluation studies can provide feedback on implementation, support continuous improvement, and increase understanding of evaluation systems' impact on teaching and learning. Despite the importance of educator evaluation studies, states often need support to prioritize and fund them. Successful studies require expertise, time, and a shared…

Restorative justice is a non-punitive approach to resolving conflict that focuses on restoring relationships. This report summarizes recommendations about future research and evaluation needs that would advance the understanding of restorative justice in K-12 schools in the United States. The recommendations were generated from interviews with…

In late 2012, both the second edition of the "Geography for Life: National Geography Standards" and the National Science Foundation-funded "Road Map for Geography Education Project" reports were released; the former document describes the conceptual goals for K-12 geography education, and the latter, a route to coordinating reform efforts to…

Purpose: In recent years, the literature on program evaluation has examined multi-stakeholder evaluation, but training evaluation models and practices have not generally taken this problem into account. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap. Design/methodology/approach: This study identifies intersections between methodologies and approaches…

Grantees on national projects are often required by their funders to take part in evaluation activities. While the requirement can encourage compliance, grantees can feel overburdened and disempowered with their evaluation experience. Evaluators in a national cross-site evaluation utilized multiple strategies for obtaining buy-in of participating…

Objective: This research was undertaken to explore factors operating at the level of the clinic and the community which influence the development of the oral health role of Indigenous Health Workers. The research is a significant aspect of a wider study of the disconnect between the strong national policy support for the development of the oral…

The purpose of the study was to address a problem of practice of the public affairs mission through the perceptions of faculty and staff members at Missouri State University of the University's organizational culture. The design included a phenomenological study with a set of organizational culture procedural questions related to the perceptions…

Scriven advocates a philosophical shift from the pseudoscientific doctrine of the traditional social sciences. He substitutes a key evaluation checklist--encompassing needs assessment, comparative value, and assessment of overall value; and suggests that evaluators use this checklist. Theoretically, the grounding of evaluation in judging and…

Discussion of instructional design for training focuses on the lack of tools that support the developmental phases of analysis, design, and evaluation. Topics include a standard instructional systems design model and an integrated software support system called "Designer's Edge," which focuses on the common activities of instructional…

This document discusses how to conduct a needs assessment for inservice teacher education. It states that the form or method of conducting a needs assessment must be decided upon after first considering teacher preferences, cost, and the capabilities of the local organization implementing the survey. Three methods of conducting needs assessment…

A framework is presented to identify programs with the highest potential for payoffs to management resulting from evaluation. Several program initiatives may be evaluated in organizations. Criteria for assessing needs and standards for prioritizing programs are presented. Evaluators must analyze alternatives and determine which one successfully…

Legally mandated educational programs often lack specificity and guidelines for such programs are often vague and subject to considerable variability in interpretation. This situation presents perennial problems for evaluators. Few evaluation models have the flexibility for dealing with this ambiguity and variability while at the same time…

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the reasons for resistance to evaluation and the factors that affect adoption of new procedures, while focusing on a model for guiding the planning of evaluation implementation strategies. The process of adoption of an innovation occurs in three stages: orientation, where the user identifies benefits;…

Needs assessment is a fundamental part of evaluation, and yet it has not developed as rapidly in sophistication as other evaluation methodologies. This is largely due to the difficulty in measuring real needs, as opposed to wants, interests, etc. This paper discusses some of the critical issues in needs assessment, and outlines some of the…

The CEVAL simulation exercise is appropriate for use in a workshop setting with up to 30 persons. It gives non-administrative groups--school board members, parent advisory councils, teachers, and parents--experience in making evaluative decisions, from the perspective of a school principal evaluating five special programs in an elementary school.…