The purpose of this study was to provide empirical evidence to support the validity of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model survey. The participants for this study were undergraduate and graduate students (n = 1173) enrolled in fully online (57%) and blended online courses (43%) offered through WebCT during the spring 2008 semester at a mid-sized…

The purpose of the Year-Round Education (YRE) Evaluation Project is to provide formative evaluation information to Orange County (Florida) Public Schools decision-makers about the year-round education schedule piloted in three elementary schools. Employing YRE means reorganizing the traditional school calendar into shorter instructional sessions…

This paper proposes a humanistic approach that may not be evaluation as commonly regarded, but it does have a much greater chance to enact program improvement. It assumes that program developers and directors really want their activities to be effective and relevant. The role of the evaluator is that of facilitator, that of a linking pin to…

The paper describes a microcomputer disk, Data Based Program Modification (DBPM), which allows special and regular educators to monitor the progress of each student, thereby perceiving the effectiveness of the instructional program. The advantages of such a formative evaluation approach are considered. The development of the DBPM is outlined in…

The increasing automation of many occupations leads to jobs that involve understanding and monitoring the operation of complex computer systems. One case is PATRIOT, an air defense surface-to-air missile system deployed by the U.S. Army. Radar information is processed and presented to the operators in highly abstract form. The system identifies…

Evaluators who perform formative evaluations would be well served to apprise themselves of recent survey research in framing formative evaluations. Illustrative examples are used from research into such diverse areas of activity as: the development of identities attached to different forms of modern rock and roll; the rationales that juvenile…

This chapter discusses current methods of formative evaluation and suggests that these methods themselves need to be subjected to more critical research and evaluation in order to provide them with a more scientific base. Topics addressed include problems and methods associated with data gathering, evaluation designs, number of subjects available,…

The program review process described in this report was developed at Anchorage Community College (ACC) after 3 years of experimentation and adjustment. Following a brief overview of the factors that instigated the effort, the report sets forth the assumptions and definitions underpinning the review process. Next, a series of suggestions are…

Although Public Law 94-142 (Education for All Handicapped Children Act) raised public awareness of the civil rights of the handicapped, the policy problems that it was intended to solve included more than civil rights issues. In particular, the law did not provide for modifications of its policies in improving public education opportunities for…

This report presents findings of the 1988 Educational Research Service survey of teacher evaluation practices and procedures in U.S. schools. The survey instrument was mailed to a random sample of 1,730 superintendents of school districts of varying size. The response rate was 52.5 percent. The first section discusses the purposes of teacher…

The model described in this article was used in a staff evaluation of the administrative team of Marshall-University High School in Minneapolis, Minn. The writer says the evaluation, which was received enthusiastically, suggested changes in administrative performance. A sample evaluation instrument is appended. (Editor)

The scope and planned publications concerning a critical review of the past ten years of change in the school mathematics programs are outlined. Background material, resource materials, and reviews of books and syllabus will be included. Classroom teachers will have a major part in the survey. (LS)

Legally mandated educational programs often lack specificity and guidelines for such programs are often vague and subject to considerable variability in interpretation. This situation presents perennial problems for evaluators. Few evaluation models have the flexibility for dealing with this ambiguity and variability while at the same time…

This paper analyzes educational evaluation and assesses its value to the educational process. The development of evaluation research and practice is outlined and the paper focuses on a comparison of formative and summative evaluation techniques. Both of these types of evaluation are discussed with an emphasis on formative evaluation. The facets of…

This paper describes the non-standard method that was used to evaluate the various processes and procedures employed by more than 20 PLATO courseware development groups and to evaluate this method. The method used was the Flanagan's critical incident technique, modified to include decisions as well as incidents. Sources of information for the…