Evaluation has not been used to its fullest potential in environmental education (EE). Pressures from external stakeholders can cause organizations to focus on reporting requirements at the expense of conducting evaluations that support programmatic improvement. Understanding practitioners' satisfaction with their evaluation processes and the…

This paper develops a novel approach called Outcome Trajectory Evaluation (OTE) in response to the long-causal-chain problem confronting the evaluation of research for development (R4D) projects. OTE strives to tackle four issues resulting from the common practice of evaluating R4D projects based on theory of change developed at the start. The…

Over 2000 years ago, Aristotle wrote of four distinct causes at play in the world we know. Those causes, the material cause, the formal cause, the efficient cause, and the final cause, were meant to refer to ontological and, by extension, epistemological concerns, and were powerful enough to be seized upon and used in some form by those of very…

Photovoice is a technique in which a facilitator guides a participant to produce a photograph and accompanying caption that reflects the participant's unique views regarding a topic. The photovoice process is designed to be used with a wide range of audiences. This article describes ways Extension educators can incorporate photovoice into the…

This document is written primarily for policy makers and state department of education staff who are considering through-year assessments, as well as consultants and contractors state departments rely on. The document identifies essential things to consider when designing or evaluating a through-year assessment program. The paper is organized into…

Logic models have garnered acclaim for their usefulness and disdain for the time required to create good ones. We argue that the orderly, analytical nature of logic models is opposed to many Extension programs, and we explain developmental evaluation, an approach that highlights ongoing development, adaptations, and rapid response. We use our…

Program participants have been largely excluded as an evidence source in realist evaluations. We test whether and how lived experience as described through life history interviews with pilot program participants can be used as a valid and unique source of data for elucidating context (C)--mechanism (M)--outcome (O) configurations and informing…

Effective teacher evaluations serve the dual function of being both summative and formative (Danielson & McGreal, 2000). The current evaluation tool in Virginia uses a traditional approach of incorporating standardized test scores as forty percent of a measure of teacher effectiveness. By way of a literature review, this article applies a…

This chapter proposes approaches for assessing learners and evaluating courses and curriculum that could be used by directors of health professions education (HPE) programs to determine the effectiveness and impact of their programs.

How can assessment and evaluation policies work together more effectively to improve student outcomes in primary and secondary schools? The country reports in this series provide, from an international perspective, an independent analysis of major issues facing evaluation and assessment policy to identify improvements that can be made to enhance…

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the degree to which the Selective Abandonment budget process objectives were achieved by analyzing stakeholder perceptions. Use of this evaluation may enable the district to become more effective, efficient, and more fiscally responsible when developing future program budgeting plans. Program evaluation was…

The paper examines the benefits claimed for action learning at individual, organisational and inter-organisational levels. It goes on to identify both generic difficulties in evaluating development programmes and action learning specifically. The distinction between formative and summative evaluation is considered and a summative evaluation…

This literature review has been undertaken for the Higher Education Academy (HEA). It explores recent scholarly contributions in the area of assessment and feedback in higher education (HE). As outlined in the HEA's terms of reference for this work, the contents of this review are designed to "help practitioners, policy makers and researchers…

This article uses Dewey's (1938) concept of "end in view" to frame one California State University's purposeful action in implementing the Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT). The authors provide a chronology of events that reveal the ways in which teacher education faculty were engaged in examining PACT outcomes and…

Classroom physical activity (PA) has been linked to a multitude of health and academic benefits. However, due to barriers such as lack of time and resources many teachers are not implementing classroom PA to the degree they would like to. One innovative solution is to integrate classroom PA into academic concepts. Based on self-determination…