The author considers whether current evaluation practice is of value to the Cooperative Extension System. Evaluation use and influence in Extension are characterized through literature review and examination of case examples informed by correspondence with study authors. The more than 675 evaluations examined consistently yielded specific and…

The authors tell about their heterogeneous 91 person research and evaluation unit at an operating foundation in St. Paul, Minnesota. They focus on evaluation for program improvement, one of several purposes of studies they work on. The three authors write from their different manager positions within the unit. Included are the context of the…

The impact of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is usually understood in relation to schools and districts, but the legislation has also affected community-based organizations that operate school-linked programs. This case study of an after-school program in California demonstrates how educational accountability systems that emphasize students' academic…

This article discusses how to make process use an independent variable in evaluation practice: the purposeful means of building an organization's capacity to conduct and use evaluations in the long run. The goal of evaluation capacity building (ECB) is to strengthen and sustain effective program evaluation practices through a number of activities:…

Discusses the potential that program theory evaluation has to provide knowledge about the parts of a program that should be retained and the parts that can be changed or should be abandoned. Considers why program theory evaluation may be able to give some guidance about how a program should be changed to function in a new and different…

The seven chapters of this volume demonstrate that evaluation evidence can overturn widely held beliefs and result in changes in programs and policies. These chapters show that policymakers can welcome findings that challenge long-established ideas and use them to Improve programs and services. (SLD)

Until the recent introduction of a dynamic interview-based process, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), a Canadian development research funding agency, faced a challenge: project completion reports (PCRs) were not being completed in a timely and quality manner. This is a common problem many organizations face in completing…

There is concern that the nation's schools are not preparing students to excel in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. At both precollege and postsecondary levels, much effort is needed to create and implement powerful STEM curricula, prepare and support highly qualified teachers, deliver effective instruction, and give…