The importance of evaluation in early childhood interventions of infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities is discussed. Eight questions guiding the evaluation process are presented, focusing on intervention expectations, purposes of intervention, personalization of intervention, and specification of anticipated outcomes, among others.…

This special issue focuses on several methodological issues in the evaluation of the largest mental health and substance abuse project for children and adolescents conducted at a single site, the U.S. Army's Fort Bragg Child and Adolescent Mental Health Demonstration program. The introduction and seven articles describe this program and the…

This article provides a case study of the use of emergent design, which asks evaluators to adapt their inquiry processes as understanding develops, in the evaluation of a family support program, tracing the emergence of evaluation procedures through three phases. Two phases produced data that policymakers found very helpful. (SLD)

Presents the perspective of students who have competed in the Case Competition of the Canadian Evaluation Society in which teams of three to five students analyze an evaluation case and present findings to a panel of judges. Students describe participation as a unique and invaluable learning experience. (SLD)

Illustrates the contribution that the Student Case Competition of the Canadian Evaluation Society can make to agencies with evaluation needs by describing the experience of an addiction and family services program whose gambling addiction treatment program used as the case in the qualifying round of the 1998 competition. (SLD)

Findings from reports of 75 children (ages 3-5) with autism indicate 39% had no standardized assessments before education authorities determined their special education provision and only 9% had follow-up assessments for evaluating progress. The development of a protocol for prescribing specific educational intervention and evaluating progress is…

Discusses the quality of school-level data collected as part of state accountability systems, including the reliability and validity of school-level test scores as a measure of the value added by schools to student learning, outlining ways that these data can be usefully analyzed; illustrating challenges inherent in doing so; and discussing…

A case study approach taken with three years of data on a hospital's trauma program indicate that, although service user data is important, its political importance far outweighs evaluation value and utility, especially for hard-to-access samples. Implications of this challenge to traditional assumptions for program evaluation are discussed. (SLD)

Evaluated an inner-city science enrichment program for elementary school students using an evaluation team of staff, board members, students, parents, and representatives of the agency's major funder, for 12 participants in all. Data show high satisfaction with the program and provide validation of the hands-on teaching model. The highly…

Describes characteristics associated with the graduate level course on individual cognitive assessment. Results indicate that although some changes have occurred over the past twelve years, many characteristics of the course remain the same. Thus, school psychology programs are not preparing students in light of recent developments in cognitive…

Introduces a new way of evaluating instructional strategies using computers. Discusses two basic theories, instructivism and constructivism, in terms of their effectiveness in conceptual learning. Outlines the radical forms of constructivism. Introduces and evaluates two versions of a multimedia physics software based on the inventive model and…

In an attempt to increase the quality and effectiveness of academic advising, an Auburn University task force examined the duties and responsibilities of academic advisors. Based on the job analysis, a behavioral/results-oriented appraisal system to assess advisor performance is recommended as valid, cost effective, and practical. (Author/MSE)

Discussion of shyness and how it affects performance focuses on a training program that was designed to assist trainers in reducing shyness and in-building interpersonal competence. A questionnaire and other methods to help identify shyness are described, and HyperCard software that organized and presented exercises for treatment is explained. A…

Two evaluation studies using qualitative methods are described to illustrate the appropriateness of such methods for certain research questions. Ways to enhance reliability and validity are also discussed in the descriptions of the evaluations of 16 emergency medical services and 13 local health departments. (SLD)

This study compared effectiveness of cognitive modeling with and without verbalization in teaching 60 learning-disabled elementary students efficient questioning strategies. Results indicated that both groups showed significant reductions from pretreatment to posttreatment in the number of questions required but no effectiveness differential…