It has been acknowledged for several decades that programs interact with context. The nature of this interactivity, and how it defines a program, has not been adequately addressed. We view this lacuna as a function of the dominant theoretical perspectives guiding knowledge of program operations. We propose the actor-network theory (ANT) and its…

Buddy Reading, a peer tutoring programme, is popularly adopted in Singapore schools to increase the reading proficiency of lower primary children who are not reading at age appropriate levels. However, this programme is rarely subjected to systematic evaluation. In view of this, the present study undertakes an evaluation of the programme as it is…

The recommitment of public education to its civic roots has revived discussion on how to engage younger generations of citizens in electoral politics and civic life. This randomized trial of 1,670 high school students in 80 social studies classrooms evaluates the impact of an election-based civics program on students' civic knowledge, skills, and…

Do camps provide a particular kind of thinking space where learning that lasts is facilitated? The argument is built around the concept of transformative learning that involves understanding who we are or wish to be and how we grow accordingly. The nature of such learning is explored through its conceptual relationship with changes in attitudes…

This study evaluates the impact of a community-based information campaign on school performance from a cluster randomized control trial in 610 villages. The campaign consisted of eight or nine public meetings in each of 340 treatment villages across three Indian states to disseminate information to the community about its state-mandated roles and…

Today's public policy discussions increasingly focus on how "networks" of public and private actors collaborate across organizational, sectoral, and geographical boundaries to solve increasingly complex problems. Yet, many of evaluation's key concepts, including the evaluator's role, assume an evaluand that is programmatically or organizationally…

The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of a pilot study that promoted productive and capacity-building activities among deprived rural women of Mexico. The evaluation design is observational; 1,278 women are interviewed, and the comparison group is estimated by propensity score matching. The results show a positive impact on the…

Benefit-cost analysis was conducted to estimate the increase in earnings, increased tax revenues, value of less crime, and reductions in welfare costs attributable to nationwide implementation of rapid assessment, a promising intervention for raising student achievement in math and reading. Results suggest that social benefits would exceed total…

Researchers' social-cultural organization influences the scope, quality, quantity, coherence, dissemination, utilization and impact of research-based, theoretically sound knowledge. Five concepts--paradigm, exemplar, segment, network and gatekeeper--are salient to research on researchers' organization. Autobiographical reflections signal these…

This paper reflects upon the nature of a target-setting and mentoring scheme in an 11-16 school in England, through a series of retrospective interviews with students who continued into further education. It considers the extent to which the initiative impacted both upon students' formal academic achievement at 16+ and upon the subsequent…

This study was conducted in conjunction with a randomised controlled trial of the parenting program Stepping Stones Triple P for parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. The current study concerned examination of the qualitative data arising from the RCT as well as evaluation of the particular parenting strategies that the parents found…

Significant resources of time, money and expertise are invested in leadership development programs, and networking is often cited as a benefit of participation in these programs. Previous research has traditionally focused on leadership as an individual attribute, but researchers and practitioners are increasingly recognizing leadership as a…

The purpose of this paper is to share our experiences involving a creative approach to service learning that was implemented in a Human Development and Family Studies graduate course. In our departmental pursuit of evolving scholarship and promoting scholarly teaching and learning (Kopera-Frye, Hilton, & Cavote, 2003), this course represents…

The author suggests the Logic Model, used especially in the Health Science field, as a model for evaluating the quality of the educational doctorate (i.e., EdD). The manuscript highlights the newly developed EdD program at Virginia Tech.

In July 2008, RAND Corporation staff conducted Correctional Program Checklist (CPC) assessments of five home-based programs (Asian Youth Center, Communities in Schools, Inter-Agency Drug Abuse Recovery Programs, Soledad Enrichment Action, and Stars Behavioral Health Group) as part of its ongoing evaluation of Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act…