Reviews the conclusions drawn in articles in this special issue and comments on some of the major themes, including paradigm debates, context issues, the role of evaluators and evaluation, the performance measurement movement, and the impact of new technologies on evaluation. (SLD)

Evaluation in the 21st century will be characterized by critical and collaborative relationships, and citizens will include a basic knowledge of evaluation as part of their democratic literacy skills. Funders, program, staff, and participants will acquire the capacity to monitor and assess critical aspects of their own performance. (SLD)

This digest addresses the role of evaluation and its basic logic, and provides a description of how the field is structured. In order to reach evaluative conclusions it is usually necessary to establish or identify factual promises and value premises. To obtain the required kind of overall evaluative conclusion, it is typically necessary to…

This paper presents one possible approach to the formative evaluation of a Teacher Enhancement Program (TEP). The approach was applied to a National Science Foundation TEP designed to enhance teachers' knowledge and use of performance assessment technology. The study demonstrates the applicability of the approach to formative evaluation and…

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…

Review states that two well-known evaluators have assembled a collection of essays on emerging issues in evaluation. These include global political perspectives, qualitative and quantitative research, the relationship between auditing and evaluation, performance assessment, international evaluation, and methodological issues. (SLD)

The five articles of this theme issue focus on new developments in the evaluation of science education programs that have both substantive and theoretical implications for the field of evaluation. Past and current evaluation approaches are reviewed, and an overview is given of new assessments consistent with new curriculum developments. (SLD)

This document contains the executive summary and the detailed report which provide an independent evaluation of Kentucky's new system for assessing student performance, the Kentucky Instructional Results Information System (KIRIS). The summary gauges progress to date, highlights some strengths to be built on and problems to be solved, and provides…

This discussion paper is intended to inform the further development of the National Research and Evaluation Strategy (NRES) by strengthening its focus on evaluation in Australian vocational education and training (VET). Chapter 1 discusses the implications for the role of evaluation that changes in VET have caused in the past decade. Chapter 2…

Lessons from the 18-year institutional experience of Alverno College in Milwaukee (Wisconsin) with assessment for the improvement and verification of student learning are summarized. Principles are described that should inform a national assessment system with the dual purposes of improvement and accountability by incorporating the following key…

The Test Center of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory has published up-to-date information on the use of portfolios in assessment in this annotated bibliography. The 182 works cited in this edition include 43 new entries and 14 deletions from the 1992 edition. Articles are listed in alphabetical order by primary author and are also…

This book, which is intended for adult educators and human resource developers, presents guidelines for assessing adult learning. The following are among the topics covered in the book's eight chapters: (1) basic principles of informal assessment (relationship between learning and assessment activities; sequencing learning and assessment…