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…

Randomly selected recommendations (N=176)--concerning performance evaluations of programs of public organizations--made by the General Accounting Office (GAO) in fiscal year 1983 were analyzed. Reasons for the exceptionally high acceptance rate (between 51 percent and 77 percent ) are discussed, including the GAO's status as a formal legally…

The large government market in evaluation that has developed in recent years does not follow the idealized image of open markets because of the contracting process, which means that a few firms conduct most evaluations. To produce honest, unbiased evaluations, evaluation ethics must take government market factors into consideration. (SLD)

Directors of the largest and most active executive branch evaluation offices from 14 government agencies assessed the impacts of the first year of federal government "reinvention." Results suggest an erosion of government capacity to conduct evaluations that is expected to increase in the presidential election year. (SLD)

This paper focuses on the experience of the Policy Education Centre on Assistance to Transition in providing monitoring and evaluation services to "Support for Improvement in Governance and Management in Central and Eastern European Countries" (SIGMA), a joint project of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the…

Views of five members of the evaluation community in Washington (D.C.) concerning the future of evaluation in the federal government are summarized. Evaluators include (1) E. Chelimsky; (2) M. F. Mangano; (3) J. S. Wholey; (4) R. C. Sonnichsen; and (5) C. Wye. (SLD)

Learning from evaluation is discussed with reference to the experiences of the Norwegian aid administration. The study demonstrates that evaluation builds learning through involvement and through communication. An organization can maximize its learning by making the two modes supplement each other. (SLD)

Effects of the federal compensatory education policy on the capacity of schools to deliver high-quality services to poor children is examined with a focus on federal assessment of Chapter 1 programs. Alternatives are suggested to improve evaluation usefulness in building organizational capacity by moving beyond a sole focus on student outcomes.…

A study was conducted to review local Title VII evaluation and improvement practices, focusing on local Transitional Bilingual Education and Special Alternative Projects. This final report summarizes the findings of the study, and includes a separate report on 18 case studies of evaluation systems of local Title VII grantees. The study reviewed…

This report examines performance evaluations of state loan/scholarship programs and direct support for medical education reform programs for the education and training of health care professionals. It is based on a survey of all administrators of state scholarship and loan repayment programs and a mail survey of officials in the 34 states which…