This article concerns recommendations made in a report to Congress and the Department of Education on evaluation of federally supported education programs. The work covers local, state, and federal efforts to address questions about why and how well evaluations are done, and about how results are used. The recommendations are directed toward…

A checklist of characteristics of effective mail questionnaires was developed that reflects some degree of consensus among experts in survey research and that can serve as a guide to novices designing a questionnaire. Journal and book sources of information about mail questionnaires were reviewed to yield 83 items in 7 categories that comprised…

This paper addresses some of the concerns inherent in evaluating feminists' projects and focuses on three topics: (1) a discussion of some objections raised by feminists about traditional forms of assessment; (2) a description of the strengths and weaknesses of illuminative evaluation as an alternative approach to evaluate feminist programs; and…

Based on similar studies conducted in 1978 and 1983, this paper provides information on changes in state department of education (SEA) evaluation units over a 5-year period and an update on current conditions. In brief, there appears to have been substantial reductions in the size of SEA evaluation unit staffs. While the majority of studies…

The Visiting Team Guidelines for Evaluation of Pennsylvania School Districts was prepared as a companion document for the three Pennsylvania Educational Needs Assessment Self-Study Guides for elementary schools, middle/junior high schools, and secondary schools. The purpose of these guidelines is to assist personnel of the school district and…

The Director of Evaluation Services of a mid-sized urban school district describes her job exchange experiences as an assistant principal in a junior high school. The background of the writer and description of the district, evaluation training in the district and returning to the field, and how evaluation fits are discussed. The purposes of the…

The Evaluation Office of the Region 20 Education Service Center, which serves 50 school districts in the San Antonio (Texas) area, is delineated in this report. The introduction describes the location, size, and budget of the agency as well as the structure and funding of the evaluation office. The first chapter notes the region's future needs for…

This study reports the results of a survey sent to 67 metropolitan school district evaluators. The survey assessed past and anticipated conduct of cost analysis methods, as well as attitudes toward the use of these methods. The instrument used contained many items taken from a survey instrument used in a previous study of cost analysis methods at…

A legal model, involving a courtroom and jury, is presented as a method of educational evaluation. The negative reactions to the approach's previous supporters--Robert L. Wolf and Murray Levine--are discussed. The author interprets the trial in judicial educational evaluation as an adversarial process used to probe the complexities underlying an…

This guide was written to provide educational practitioners with a convenient, comprehensive, accurate source of information about evaluation training materials. Criteria for inclusion in this guide were (1) that the product was developed by a federally funded laboratory or research and development center; (2) that the product, or some part of it,…

Policy-making problems being faced in Louisiana regarding the testing of handicapped students within a state mandated minimum competency testing program are dealt with. The decision-making process is complicated by the fact that two groups (staff administering the test and staff administering programs for the handicapped) with differing…

This speech concerns the dimensions of context-oriented evaluation and begins with a discussion of the differences between measurement, research, statistical methodology, and evaluation. Decision-oriented evaluation is described as a process in which the evaluator has, as a major concern, the responsibility to determine likely decisions prior to…

A summary is presented of an intensive assessment of the impact of a two-year effort to assist 30 colleges and universities to improve their faculty evaluation procedures. The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), supported by a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, worked closely with teams of faculty and…

Heads of evaluation units in 21 state education agencies responded to a structured telephone interview about their unit's workload, evaluation methods, and associated problems and needs. Time committed to evaluation ranged from 10% to 100% and did not relate to staff size which ranged from 1-72. Eleven states contracted some of their evaluations.…

Theorizing about evaluation should be conceptualized as a human activity governed by certain strategies and principles. The theories advanced by various evaluators have changed over the years, thus illustrating ten principles of evaluation. The starting point for theory development or modification is self-reflection and review of one's own…