This manuscript describes the development and testing of an Internet-based cost survey that was designed by the authors for the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care (NASBHC) to capture the costs of school-based health programs. The intent of the survey was twofold. First, the survey was designed to collect comprehensive data on costs in a…

In 2003 foster youth employed by a foster youth advocacy organization suggested that an evaluation of group home services to foster youth be conducted in Alameda County, California. This report presents the development and conduct of this evaluation study; how funding was obtained; and how foster youth were hired, trained, and employed to produce…

Evaluation is often both conceptually and functionally separate from program planning and operations management. There are a number of potentially beneficial side effects to be realized from close collaboration between program administrators and evaluators: when the evaluation task is broadly defined and when both administrators recognize their…

Draws on interviews with 61 officials in 13 federal agencies to illustrate a framework showing many of the potential uses of evaluation in support of performance management. Suggests 10 actions as opportunities for agency administrators and evaluators to bridge the current gaps between potential and actual uses of evaluation. (Author/SLD)

Oversight is defined in a broad manner, encompassing a wide variety of mechanisms within the mental health field. Implications for mental health practice brought out by these descriptions of mechanisms are discussed to illustrate the utility of them in better understanding oversight practices. (Author/LMO)

Shows how evaluators can handle conflict and create, restore, and maintain conditions for an ongoing negotiation process using the example of a vocational rehabilitation project for psychiatric patients in which a conflict developed between management and therapists. (SLD)

Evaluation theory and practice in Australia are described. In Australia, evaluation is linked closely with government programs. Australia has benefited from the opportunity to observe evaluation in the rest of the world. However, development of a uniquely Australian perspective has been hampered by the imposition of cultural values of other…

Explores implications for evaluation practice of using five different perspectives on organizations, drawing on the four models of social program implementation developed by R. F. Elmore (1978). It is argued that evaluation will only really be effective when its focus, methods, and management reflect realistic assumptions about how organizations…

The current conceptualization in the mental retardation-developmental disability field regarding quality of life, quality enhancement, and quality assurance is summarized. Implications of these issues for program planning and evaluation are discussed, with attention to management and a framework for quality assurance. (SLD)

This section presents two pragmatic studies focusing on a real-life situation and specific applications in managerial decision making. One study deals with improving occupational safety in a bedding manufacturing plant, whereas the other concentrates on managing a state mental health program. (SLD)

A mail survey completed by 62 administrators in colleges of education in Ohio provides descriptive and correlational results about the nature of utilization of needs assessment. A moderately high multiple correlation is found for attitude and involvement, but other independent variables contribute minimally to prediction. (SLD)