Environmental education organizations can do more to either institute evaluation or improve the quality of their evaluation. In an effort to help evaluators bridge the gap between the potential for high quality evaluation systems to improve environmental education, and the low level of evaluation in actual practice, we reviewed recent…

Schools are held more responsible for evaluating, quality assuring and improving their student assessments. Teachers' lack of understanding of new, competence-based assessments as well as the lack of key stakeholders' involvement, hamper effective and efficient self-evaluations by teachers of innovative, competence-based assessments (CBAs). While…

My Environmental Education Evaluation Resource Assistant or "MEERA" is a web-site designed to support environmental educators' program evaluation activities. MEERA has several characteristics that set it apart from other self-directed learning evaluation resources. Readers are encouraged to explore the site and to reflect on the role that…

This discussion foregrounds four key issues engaged by the articles presented in this special issue: the unique challenges and opportunities of environmental education evaluation, how to think well about the evaluation approaches and purposes that best match this domain, evaluation capacity building in environmental education and action, and…

Evaluation in environmental education is fairly nascent despite decades-long attention to its importance. In setting the context for future chapters appearing in this special issue of the "Journal of Evaluation and Program Planning," attention is devoted to the political circumstances associated with retrenchment in the public sector and increased…

Critical consideration of the role of environmental education in meeting conservation outcomes is increasingly necessary for environmental agencies and organizations. Evaluation can help move organizations to alignment between educational goals and organizational mission. Moving theory-driven evaluation into mission-based program theory, this…

Evaluation capacity building (ECB) is seldom mentioned in the environmental education (EE) literature, but as demonstrated by the lack and poor quality of EE evaluations, is much needed. This article focuses on an online course, Applied Environmental Education Program Evaluation (AEEPE), which provides nonformal educators with an understanding of…

In 2005, state fish and wildlife agency wanted to examine how one of its conservation education programs was providing science-based understanding and outdoor experiences by evaluating students' knowledge, skills, attitudes and intended behavioral outcomes related to fish, fishing and aquatic habitats in Montana. A key factor in this study was the…

We join the authors in this special issue in their call to embrace a culture of evaluation. Obstacles to change are formidable. Educators debate their purpose--provide knowledge or achieve environmental goals--and we have limited evidence of the effectiveness of environmental programs and policies. Change requires collaboration across…

The purposes of this study were to evaluate a federal and state-funded Family Caregiver Support Program (FCSP) and explore what types of caregiver support service are associated with what caregiver outcomes. Information was obtained on a sample of 164 caregivers' use of eleven different types of support service. Descriptive and comparative…

The purpose of this study was to assess staff and client perspectives on the Internet-based Journey Mapping program evaluation tool. A drug court program was chosen for a case study research design. Six staff and 10 clients participated in interviews and observations, and also responded to a questionnaire. A staff survey provided additional data.…

Program evaluation as a methodology is discussed, and its application to government export promotion programs is examined. Because the variety of approaches to export program evaluation, resulting data are often of limited usefulness. A programmatic approach to program evaluation is proposed. (TJH)

Factors involved in pre-planned and post-planned evaluation of program effectiveness are compared: (1) reliability and cost of data; (2) internal and external validity; (3) obtrusiveness and threat; (4) goal displacement and program direction. A model to help program administrators decide which approach is more appropriate is presented. (Author/MH)

Strasser and Deniston's own analysis (TM 504 254) shows that post-planned evaluations are unsuitable substitutes for pre-planned evaluations. When viewed as post-experimental interviews, however, post-planned evaluations can produce valuable information which complements traditional experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations. (MH)

Partial results of an evaluation of an alternative criminal-sentencing program indicate considerable disagreement among stakeholders over perceived program effectiveness. It is argued that these disagreements are not isolated events but are likely to be inherent in any program with the potential to change established systems within a complex…