Notwithstanding significant efforts by international aid agencies, aid ineffectiveness became apparent in 1990s as the impact of continued development intervention did not endure the expected outcomes. Conventional monitoring and evaluation by those agencies is critiqued for focusing on measuring project outcomes and giving little attention to…

Current economic conditions and the increasing competition for government funding are leading to an increased focus on the impact of research. Measuring the impact of research is difficult because not all impacts are direct and some can be negative or result from the identification of problems that require a non-research response. The time between…

Although priding itself on high rates of literacy achievement, New Zealand's track record in the last two decades has noticeably declined. Successive New Zealand governments have invested heavily in trying to redress this decline with limited success. Demographic changes in population due to immigration provide a partial explanation, but arguably,…

The main purpose of this research is to examine the effectiveness of Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) from a sample of university teachers' and students' view. The study adopts exploratory descriptive design. Participants of this research were 300 teachers and 600 graduate students from 3 Iranian higher education institutions. A 30-item format…

This paper is a reflection on practice. It begins by briefly describing an evaluation of an externally-funded education programme in Kosovo (a new country in south-east Europe). The programme was managed by Save the Children in Kosovo and aimed to develop and promote models of inclusive education through three strands of activity. The first of…

This paper forms part of an exploration of assessment on one part-time higher education (HE) course: an in-service, professional qualification for teachers and trainers in the learning and skills sector which is delivered on a franchise basis across a network of further education colleges in the north of England. This paper proposes that the…

Distance Education has globally become one of the important solutions for increasing admission into the universities, decongesting campuses and efficient utilization of time and space. To ensure the sustainability of the programmes' noble objectives calls for periodic re-evaluation of its modus operandi including the assessment of the perception…

Discusses the history of evaluation research, focusing on current emphasis on "evidence-based policy." Highlights five issues emerging as relevant: evaluation can be done in many ways, serious doubts exist about the usefulness of the term "evaluation," evaluation is held back by paradigm wars, views of evaluation are…

A multistakeholder evaluation procedure is presented to address the many challenges in evaluating the performance of condominial sewer projects in Brazil. Condominial sewerage is a promising appropriate technology that is coproduced by users and public agencies, but little is known about project performance. This article shows that…

This article draws on results of an evaluation of Sure Start activities in an area of South Wales in 2004, focusing in particular on measurements of improvements to child development and measurements of benefits to parents. The article reports on the methods that were used to collect relevant data and examines the problems associated with linking…

Assessment of welfare gains from a targeted social program can be seriously biased unless the endogeneity of program participation is addressed. Bias comes from two sources of placement endogeneity: the purposive targeting of geographic areas, and the targeting of individual recipients within selected areas. Partial decentralization of program…

The experience of development assistance (donor) agencies with the monitoring and evaluation of their projects in the developing countries is reviewed. The concepts and definitions of monitoring and evaluation are traced and problems and issues that emerged in the 1970's are reviewed. Future directions are discussed. (SLD)

Describes how non-Southeast Asian instructors, over a two-year period, designed and taught courses for Cambodian and Vietnamese human-service workers. Discusses the difficulty of modifying standard questionnaires for these participants and the limited benefits of formal evaluation processes. Several insights, however, were gleaned through…

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…

Underperformance among physicians is not well studied or defined; yet, the identification and remediation of physicians who are not performing up to acceptable standards is central to quality care and patient safety. Methods for estimating the prevalence of dyscompetence include evaluating available data on medical errors, malpractice claims,…