The use of portfolio assessment as a method of evaluating the writing competence of elementary school students was studied. The study contained two components: (1) an empirical study of the utility and meaningfulness of using an analytic rubric developed for the evaluation of traditional writing samples to score student portfolios; and (2) a…

The Louisiana Intern Teacher Assessment Program, part of the Louisiana Teacher Appraisal System, began with a preliminary field test, followed by a pilot test and implementation in 1993-94. Evaluation of the preliminary field test was conducted through responses of 223 assessors, intern teachers, principals, and assessor trainers to nine different…

In the spirit of education reform, this paper presents a literature review that provides a framework for discussing methods of teacher evaluation, their effectiveness in assessing what they purport to do, and the concern for better evaluation methods that can lead to improved teaching. The chief concerns addressed are what actually defines an…

Research and evaluation staff members in schools and school districts are frequently called on to answer questions about the quality of schools. Responding merely with test scores is not sufficient, because it is important to communicate information about the total educational program in the district. Additional measures are available.…

This paper describes the practical steps employed in controlling interview data generated from a research project investigating teachers' perspectives on the worth of a sex equity educational demonstration project. These perspectives were then considered as value frameworks that might be used to formulate and interpret a naturalistic-responsive…

This guide is designed primarily for administrators/teachers to provide: an introduction to the nature and purpose of school evaluation; an approach involving evaluation of issues determined by school staff; a set of procedures to carry out the evaluation; and guidance information and instruments for conducting an evaluation. Although the guide is…

The feasibility of reducing scoring costs for the Test of Spoken English (TSE) by using one rater was investigated. Currently, two raters are used. It was found that, because of the possibility of different standards used by potential raters, it does not appear feasible to use a single rater as the sole determiner of speaking proficiency under the…

Central Michigan University's experiential learning program and the guidelines for awarding academic credit are described. Graduate students may apply for college credit on the basis of relevant skills which have been acquired as a result of their occupational, military, and personal experiences. The evaluators judge the student's application to…

The Formative Evaluation and Heuristic Research (FEHR) PRACTICUM, a computerized game, gives practical experience in such program evaluation tasks as problem definition, operationalizing objectives, field study, budgeting, proposal writing, data analysis, and interpretation--without the expense and time commitments required by most research. The…

Recent needs assessment studies are reviewed, with emphasis on the needs of adult learners and of needs assessors. Three general purposes of needs assessment are described: (1) providers of educational services are interested in what their market (adult population) wants; (2) public agencies are interested in whether or not all segments of the…

Evaluation is an act of persuasion directed to a specific audience concerning the solution of a problem. The process of evaluation is prescribed by the nature of knowledge--which is generally complex, always uncertain (in varying degrees), and not always propositional--and by the nature of logic, which is always selective. In the process of…

The purpose of this Guide is to provide Mathematics and Science Partnership (MSP) project officials and evaluators with clear, practical advice on how to conduct rigorous evaluations of MSP projects at low cost. Specifically, this is a how-to Guide designed to enable MSP grantees and evaluators of MSP projects to answer questions about the…

Two research projects focused on use of casual markers (graders) for correcting and grading distance education (DE) students' work. A Charles Sturt University project convened focus groups of DE students, casual DE markers, and lecturers who "managed" markers to uncover concerns. University of South Australia research focused on pedagogical issues…

This book is designed to assist evaluators of nonformal education (NFE) and adult education programs in their continuing professional education and in the task of improving their capacities for genuinely formative, informative, and participatory assessment of educational practice. Fourteen chapters are organized into five sections. Section 1…

The purpose of the study reported in this chapter was to determine if senior evaluation consultants experienced stages of growth in their practice similar to the small business development stages described by Bruce and Scott, to identify the stimuli that led to those changes, to determine what the consultants learned from these incidents, and to…