International scholarship programs for higher education attract a substantial body of funding each year from national governments, supranational bodies, large charitable foundations, higher education institutions, and many smaller organizations. With aims variously shaped by international development and public diplomacy considerations,…

High-quality, evidence-based professional development is essential to ensure that teachers obtain the knowledge, strategies and skills necessary to positively impact student learning. While the primary form of professional development, training has rarely been evaluated for quality beyond the satisfaction of those being trained. The Observation…

Traditionally, evaluation has primarily tried to answer the question "Does a program, service, or policy work?" Recently, more attention is given to questions about variation in program effects and the mechanisms through which program effects occur. Addressing these kinds of questions requires moving beyond assessing average program…

Assessment, or better stated, the assurance of student learning, has become a central issue in both the internal and the external evaluations of degree programs offered by colleges and universities. The continual importance of assurance of learning activities within institutions of higher education has generated a growing need to create empirical…

Evaluation occurs within a specific context and is influenced by the economic, political, historical, and social forces that shape that context. The culture of evaluation is thus very much embedded in the culture of accountability that currently prevails in public sector institutions, policies, and program. As such, our understanding of the…

Action Research on Measuring Literacy Programme Participants' Learning Outcomes (RAMAA) aims to develop, implement and collaborate on the creation of a methodological approach to measure acquired learning and study the various factors that influence its development. This report examines how RAMAA I has been implemented over the past four years in…

Sound evaluation planning requires numerous decisions about how constructs in a program theory will be translated into measures and instruments that produce evaluation data. This article, the first in a dialogue exchange, examines how decisions about measurement are (and should be) made, especially in the context of small-scale local program…

Teachers are responsible for using evidence-based practices to improve students' academic and behavioral outcomes. Although teachers have access to a variety of resources on evidence-based practices, poor implementation can adversely affect their effectiveness. However, an inadequate student response to intervention may also be the result of…

In recent years, increased focus on the effectiveness and accountability of prevention and intervention programs has led to greater government funding for the implementation and spread of evidence-based health and human service delivery models. In particular, attention has been paid to programs that require significant infrastructure investment…

This article addresses the leadership preparation line of inquiry developed in the past decade by the University Council for Educational Administration/Learning and Teaching in Educational Leadership Special Interest Group Taskforce on Evaluating Leadership Preparation Programs, and it particularly addresses the series of survey instruments…

Background: Return on investment (ROI) is one of the most popular evaluation metrics. ROI analysis (when applied correctly) is a powerful tool of evaluating existing information systems and making informed decisions on the acquisitions. However, practical use of the ROI is complicated by a number of uncertainties and controversies. The article…

New York's Cornell University spends millions of dollars and thousands of staff and volunteer hours to produce more than 1,400 events around the world each year. That's one event every six hours. Is it worth it? Do the 40,000 alumni, parents, and friends who attend feel closer to Cornell after these events? Do they disengage because Cornell didn't…

Over the past decade and a half, state governments have assumed greater responsibility over demand-side management (DSM) operations. Whereas DSM programs formerly were initiated primarily by utilities or state public utility commissions, they are now becoming increasingly state-initiated and incentivized through funding mechanisms or…

When measuring outcomes in corporate training, the authors recommend that it is essential to introduce a comprehensive plan, especially when resources are limited and the company needs are vast. The authors hone in on five critical components for shaping a measurement plan to determine the success and ROI of training. The plan's components should…

Monitoring and evaluation has been identified as one of seven key strategies for advancing the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). The UN International Implementation Scheme for the Decade has called for the development of relevant and suitable indicators at all levels. Choosing appropriate education for sustainable…