This paper aims to survey the current landscape of education policy evaluation across OECD countries and economies by examining recent trends and contextual factors that can promote more robust education policy evaluation, as well as identifying key challenges. It takes a view of policy evaluation as an activity that takes place throughout the…

This article describes three challenges encountered during a developmental evaluation and explains how these were addressed from the evaluators' perspective. The evaluation was conducted to support the implementation of a three-year educational technology leadership project funded by the Alberta provincial government. The developmental evaluation…

As Americans shift their work and leisure activities online, Extension seeks to remain viable by delivering programs through a website known as eXtension. eXtension is predicated on the voluntary labor of Extension specialists and educators who form Communities of Practice to create and deliver content through the website. Evaluation of eXtension…

Programs and policies invariably contain new knowledge. Theories about knowledge utilization, diffusion, implementation, transfer, and knowledge translation theories illuminate some mechanisms of change processes. But more often than not, when it comes to understanding patterns about change processes, "the foreground" is privileged more…

This chapter features a recent conversation with Dr. Arnold J. Love, a long-time proponent of internal evaluation and one of the most cited internal evaluation authors. In 1983, Love edited the first issue of "New Directions for Program Evaluation" on the topic of internal evaluation. He is the author of the book "Internal…

Using a cross-case analysis of three distinct participatory program evaluations, this paper contributes to current discourse on how evaluators create opportunities for learning. Although each team of evaluators intended to promote planned process use, post-evaluation discussions amongst them identified evidence where use emerged throughout the…

While we may all agree in principle that both implementers and evaluators should be culturally sensitive and ethical as well as instrumentally effective in their work practices, we often ignore the extent to which these practice goals may conflict with one another in achieving bureaucratic competence, particularly in a multicultural society.…

Results of a survey of 564 Canadian and American evaluators and evaluation project descriptions provided by a subsample of 348 evaluators indicate that evaluators support a utilization-focused, stakeholder service orientation and think that maximizing evaluation use is a primary responsibility of evaluators. (SLD)

Based on experiences in conducting program evaluations for the Canadian Federal Government, an evaluator addresses reconciliation of the information needs of managers and accountability. External and internal accountability are covered. Using the perspectives of both line managers and senior managers, means of resolving pertinent issues are…

The evaluation of second language programs is an educational task with profound potential for improving pedagogical practice. Evaluators who educate perform more than just a "service" function by helping people to learn, develop themselves, and refine their abilities to work more effectively. (CB)

The substantial differences in program evaluation practices in Canada and the United States are discussed focussing on the historical context and the political and cultural environments. Program evaluation has developed in Canada to address the concerns of accountability of public funds in a context of economic restraint. (Author/BS)

This paper suggests a strategy for the evaluation of programs designed for Native children enrolled in predominantly non-Native urban school districts. The strategy provides a means by which Native people can increase their involvement in, responsibility for, and control of the education of their children. The paper is divided into five sections.…

Based upon the premise that school divisions in Manitoba, Canada, should evaluate and improve upon themselves, this evaluation model was developed. The participating personnel and the development of the evaluation model are described. The model has 11 parts: (1) needs assessment; (2) statement of objectives; (3) definition of objectives; (4)…

Graduate students in a program evaluation class carried out small case-study evaluations, and examined the participants' reactions to the evaluation report. The programs included an experimental high school drama course, a high school music apprenticeship program, and a sixth grade computer course on problem solving. There were three phases of…

During the past decade, it has become fashionable to include an evaluation component with each new bilingual education program. The proliferation of empirical evaluation studies seems, however, not yet to have shed much light on very basic issues, such as the relationship between language of instruction and cognitive growth, academic achievement…