Experts have heralded domain-specific play-based curricula coupled with regular coaching and training as our "strongest hope" for improving instructional quality in large-scale public preschool programs. Yet, details from different evaluations of the strongest hope model are not systematically compiled, making it difficult to identify…

In the past several years, evaluation researchers and practitioners have become concerned about the apparent failure to utilize evaluation information. A simplified model of decision making is presented, in which the decision maker is confronted with a situation requiring a choice, generates potential solutions, assesses the probabilities that a…

It is critical for schools and districts engaged in a comprehensive school-reform process to develop a schoolwide or districtwide strategy, one that affects teaching and learning, governance, and professional development. Researchers studying school-reform processes have noted that different types of models suit different schools differently.…

A two-stage project generated and tested a problem-solving linkage model of dissemination and utilization (DU) processes. The first phase involved the analysis of the DU activities of four Federal agency units in order to produce the model. The overall DU process was conceptualized as a dialogue between users with information needs and suppliers…

The comprehensive model for evaluating nursing education programs is described in terms of what is evaluated; who conducts the evaluation; and why it is conducted. A structure for further action and decision making is also presented. (GDC)

Based on Leviton and Hughes' conceptualization of variable clusters that affect evaluation utilization, a procedure for measuring utilization potential was developed. Five clusters of variables are consistently related to utilization: relevance, credibility, communication, information processing, and user involvement and advocacy. The…

Proposes a community college program review model which promotes institutional autonomy and satisfies accountability demands. Recommends that community colleges use a need/access model rather than the equality/excellence model appropriate for universities. Proposes an open and flexible review process, specific products, and seven evaluation…

Although most school districts and schools are routinely involved in data collection, they do not typically use the data they collect in a systematic fashion to identify strengths and weaknesses and develop improvement strategies. One reason for the lack of data use is the perception that the data are being collected for someone else's purposes.…

Data from interviews with elementary school principals are examined for insights into the impact of administrative style on evaluation utilization. Characteristics of 23 principals' administrative styles are classified as being either "compliance" (CO) or "non-compliance" (NCO) oriented. CO principals are characterized by the following: (1)…

Intended for researchers and professionals, this report provides a detailed review of planning strategies, action steps, and outcomes of the National Dissemination Project for Post-Secondary Education from 1972 to 1974. Drawing on the background that led to the project, the report covers the planning stages in detail and provides comprehensive…

Evaluability assessment is a descriptive and analytic process intended to produce a reasoned basis for proceeding with an evaluation of use to both management and policymakers. It was jointly developed by the members of the program evaluation group of the Urban Institute between 1968 and 1978. The approach begins by obtaining management's…

An information feedback model and an ideology of evaluation are posed and contrasted with experiences in evaluation research. Impact on policy is the criterion for success of an evaluation and political constraints block this impact. Some ways social researchers might conceptualize and construct an appropriate base of power are considered.…

The internal resources an agency devotes to its own programmatic review and assessment can be most effectively related to the agency's administrative decision-making if the agency is self-evaluating and uses Havelock's model of linkage between formal research dissemination and utilization as a framework for the integration of program evaluation…

This Stufflebeam-Guba CIPP type model for the evaluation of innovations in education attempts to maximize the effectiveness of critical decisions through the timely reporting of relevant information in a useful form to appropirate levels of decision making. Evaluation is thus seen as the combination of effective decisions based on timely, relevant…

A number of organizational, personal and methodological characteristics have been identified through the literature which inhibit or can be used to facilitate the use of evaluation and testing information. Inhibitors of information usage include organizational characteristics such as loosely coupled and decentralized systems, personal…