This survey of 34 primary schools and 5 local education authorities in Great Britain examined reactions to the pilot test of Key Stage 1 standard assessment tasks (SATs), as they related to special needs students. Teachers' criticisms focused on the overwhelming workload, questionable SAT reliability, and resulting decline in the quality of…

In developing evaluative methods within the field of mental handicap services, evaluators should be more explicit about values they adopt and about lifestyles that services should be enabling people to achieve. An approach is described for evaluating the "All-Wales Strategy for the Development of Services for Mentally Handicapped…

The purpose of evaluation in education projects is explored, through examples from English Language Teaching aid projects in developing countries. The distinction between formative and summative evaluation is conceptualized in terms of purpose rather than temporality, and the role of evaluation in program improvement is stressed. (SLD)

Describes as example a parents' center in London to examine impact of evaluation exercises on people and services being evaluated. Questions whether evaluators are measuring the right things, whether evidence is valid, and what effects an evaluation may have on services. Identifies features of research and evaluation that are most likely to…

A study sought British medical students' perceptions of the most and least enjoyable and best- and worst-taught clerkships in their medical school experience and the characteristics associated with these clinical experiences. (MSE)

In Great Britain, interest in the measurement of value added was stimulated initially by the requirement that schools and further education (FE) colleges publish league tables of examination results. Value-added data can be aggregated to compare different institutions' performance. Within colleges, value-added data provide a basis for setting…

This report contains, in addition to the introduction and preface, 13 papers written by individuals working in the field of evaluation who present the concepts and practices of evaluation at their own particular distance education institutions. The introduction (Schuemer) gives a short outline of the evaluation nomenclature and an overview of the…

A project evaluated 23 preregistration midwifery education programs in Britain. Phase 1 reviewed the programs and identified a cohort of students for indepth study. Phase 2 followed this cohort into their first year in practice. A survey selected six case study sites. Findings showed a common cause of attrition was students being unable to balance…

A road safety study was conducted by the University of Salford, Great Britain, in order to evaluate the effects of secondary level driver education in reducing the occurrence of accidents. It examines the feasibility of using accidents and traffic offenses as criteria for evaluating courses in driver education. To achieve this objective, 1,800…