Articulates a framework that can place the Outcomes Based Education movement in a historical context and by so doing advance its discourse on assessment. Reviews the development and structure of the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (B. Bloom et al., 1956) and the structure of Student Outcome Statements in Western Australia and explores the…

A social learning model focusing on intrinsic outcomes of vocational programs is proposed. It would assess technical skills and knowledge, communication skills and literacy, and personal skills and attitudes. Instruments should be devised to measure characteristics of the learning setting, learner involved activities, and nature of consequences of…

A study with 516 Australian families which supports a model of parent involvement in learning is presented. The model involves assessment of family opportunity structures as defined by parent aspirations for their children and parents' academic socialization, as well as children's perceptions of family opportunity structures. (SLD)

This paper presents one perspective on a new methodology of program evaluation which defines four phases corresponding to the operational life of a school program. Examples and results are discussed in terms of relevance to basic skills improvement efforts and cost-effects. (LMO)

Although "quality of education" issues are currently popular in educational evaluation, the author argues for an empirically resolvable evaluation paradigm: Given the target population, program goals, and boundary conditions, how do educational treatments compare in terms of learning effects? Agreement on pre-set specifications and the…