Offers consideration of the relationship between a responsive approach to the evaluation of educational programs and a personalized approach to the assessment of student achievement. Explores responsiveness as a motif for inquiry about program quality and student accomplishment, emphasizing the relationship between the two. (SLD)

A national survey of the perceptions of chief academic officers and faculty representatives at U.S. graduate institutions regarding post-tenure review policy and practice suggests that such practices have been more symbol management than substance and more response to the rhetoric of accountability than intent to affect faculty status. (Author/EV)

Proposed a three-phase model for program theory building and testing in evaluation and tested the model in studies involving 540 employees and 315 elementary school teachers. The studies show how to cumulate knowledge about evaluation and how knowledge can be derived from evaluation. (SLD)

Presents results of a literature review, organized the Milstein and Cotton evaluation capacity (B. Milstein and D. Cotton, 2000) framework, detailing and analyzing the contextual factors and system features that impact the evaluation capacity of school counseling programs. Discusses implications for evaluation in other settings. (SLD)

The traditional view that an activity's comparative impact on collective welfare ought to guide resource allocation is refuted. A paradigm of a multisystem society with the non-fungibility of investment resources an essential issue in project appraisal is presented. (SLD)

Different dimensions of evaluation utilization and evaluator strategies for stimulating use are discussed, in terms of designing a formal evaluation utilization system. While the need exists to improve the design process, there is no simple formula. Evaluators should see part of their function as creating a repository of knowledge. (SLD)

Refutes three evaluation myths--(1) evaluation is findings; (2) outcomes are hard to measure; and (3) evaluation is an add-on--with three principles: (1) evaluation is a learning process; (2) soft data about important issues are better than hard data about unimportant issues; and (3) meaningful evaluation is integrated into teaching and learning.…

Managers/executives (n=42), training directors (n=47), trainers (n=45), and supervisors (n=33) identified the primary methods of evaluating training transfer as testing and performance evaluation. Supervisors estimated that 67% of training is transferred. The most used strategies to improve transfer were program modifications, improved training…

The article and commentary in this special section consider the ethical implications of a remark by an employee in a business being evaluated that employees have been advised to make the program look good. Explores the implications for the evaluation and its usefulness. (SLD)

Examines student ratings of teacher effectiveness within a new framework that emphasizes six distinct aspects of validity: content, substantive, structural, generalizability, external, and consequential. Concludes that greater attention should be directed toward consequential validity, particularly how ratings are used on today's campuses and what…

Explores two issues that have strongly influenced much of what has happened in evaluation in recent decades. The quantitative-qualitative debate has been fueled by changes in theories of causation. The second issue, that of the fact-value dichotomy, can be dealt with through the realization that facts and values are not separate kinds of entities,…

Describes the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine's use of outcomes assessment (OA) as part of the accreditation review process for the American Veterinary Medical Association. Discusses its nine OA survey instruments and use of resulting data during accreditation. (EV)

Draws practical suggestions from "The Program Evaluation Standards" (Joint Committee, 1994) relevant to issues of disclosure of evaluation findings and arranges these suggestions to simplify the issues for evaluators. Suggestions should help evaluators decide when they can legitimately report findings beyond contractual agreements. (SLD)

Conceptualizes key differences between management and leadership as a basis for suggesting ways in which evaluators might operate to serve the decision-making needs of organizational leaders. Evaluators will provide maximum leverage if they work directly with the leadership to promote review and change. (SLD)

Presents the perspectives on commissioning and using evaluations of community-based agency leaders through interviews with four such leaders. Discusses respondents' needs and experiences in commissioning and using evaluations and their ideas about ideal evaluation products. (Author/SLD)