Highlights need for collaboration, integration, and expansion in designing evaluation models for career development programs. Outlines fledgling evaluation model that began to emerge at Symposium on Issues and Solutions for Evaluating Career Development Programs and Services. Notes that model addresses dimensions critical in evaluation of career…

Serious studies are underway that may help outdoor experiential training (OET) shed its faddishness and gain credibility as a legitimate instructional methodology. Only those programs that include clear objectives, skilled facilitation, a plan for transferring training back to the job, and credible evaluation and followup will be effective and…

Evaluators vary in their propensity to make direct valuative judgments of program worth. The decision to include recommendations with a report or provide merely descriptive evaluation depends on individuals' perspectives concerning the nature of reality, truth and values, human agency, and informational utility. (SLD)

An analysis of apparent program failure should determine whether the fault lies with the program model, implementation strategy, expectations, or evaluation methods. The evaluation should be planned before completing and carrying out the program design. (SK)

The role of program evaluation is examined in relation to policy analysis. Program evaluation is most persuasive as a component of the policy process when its role is clearly understood. Clarity can be achieved by using the program mandate to guide evaluation and by including practitioners in evaluation model developments. (SLD)

Total quality management interventions and assessments must be more theory grounded and contingency based to advance understanding of its applicability, potential, and pitfalls in the public sector. Two-step and stage-state evaluative models can be used to ameliorate its shortcomings. (JOW)

Describes an application of multilevel modeling to repeated measures as part of an evaluation of Reading Recovery in 22 schools in England and multivariate models are applied to the within and between school aspects of the design. Results show Reading Recovery to be effective in the short term, but not the long term. (SLD)

Presents definitions and purposes of delegation, accountability, and empowerment as parts of a system aimed at high performance. It explores how advanced program evaluation methods can make delegation and accountability more effective and empowerment less risky. (SLD)

The articles in this issue, written from the perspectives of academics, practitioners, and publishers, show that examining the consequences of assessment is an important, large, and difficult task. Collaborative action by assessment developers, users, and the educational measurement community is needed if progress is to be made. (SLD)

Two North Carolina projects used methods from the National Network for Family Resiliency's Parenting Evaluation Decision Framework. Parenting for Success for Hispanic Parents used focus group interviews and summative evaluation. Individualized education for Head Start parents used pre/posttests of parental self-esteem and child development…

Presents arguments for conducting program evaluation as a reflection of concern for students. Seeks to "demystify" evaluation, noting that evaluation need not be done only by experts. Discusses types of evaluation and presents principles in planning and guiding evaluations. (JPS)

Describes the a-e-I-o-u program evaluation approach, a framework for organizing key evaluation questions that allows for many models of evaluation and/or methods of data collection. Evaluations by users of the approach have indicated that it provides a practical way to organize evaluation questions and collect appropriate data. (GCP)

Using logic modeling as the basis for meaningful evaluation, specific steps are outlined for measuring learning outcomes in extension education: articulating outcomes, turning outcomes into knowledge statements, and constructing a tool to measure perceived changes in knowledge. Use of this learning assessment tool enables extension faculty to…

Presents two methods for assessing the scholarship of engagement at the institutional level: (1) Comprehensive Assessment of the Scholarship of Engagement (CASE), a systematic method that compiles information about service learning and community engagement, identifies campus strengths, and prioritizes planning areas; and (2) an institutional…

Explores the possibility of randomly assigning groups (or clusters) of individuals to a program or control group to estimate the impact of programs designed to affect whole groups. Applies the cluster-assignment approach to the evaluation of education programs targeting whole schools. Discusses statistical implications of the method. (SLD)