This article demonstrates the value of theoretical ex-ante evaluation of policy programs. We show how a specific policy might not achieve its objectives and illustrate the elements of the policy, which need improvement. These conclusions are based on a reconstruction and evaluation of the theory behind a policy program that aims to increase…

The past few years have seen efforts in several countries and a wide range of disciplines to adopt and apply existing professional standards for guiding and judging evaluation services and/or develop new standards. Some of the efforts have drawn from the work and products of the North American Joint Committee on Standards for Educational…

Demonstration programs and social experiments are often subject to sophisticated, controlled evaluations. An important factor that is not subject to control, and sometimes even goes unobserved, is overall program site quality. Site quality can be observed in process evaluations, but these tend to be expensive. This paper describes an alternative…