The field of program evaluation lacks interactive teaching tools. To address this pedagogical issue, the authors developed a collaborative learning technique called Program Evaluation: The Board Game. The authors present the game and its development in this practitioner-oriented article. The evaluation board game is an adaptable teaching tool…

Universal screening is a critical prerequisite to providing early school-based prevention and intervention services for students at risk for or with academic, behavioral, or emotional difficulties. Although use of academic and behavioral screening has become more prevalent, criteria for making informed decisions about appropriate screening tools…

This paper describes a comprehensive model of alignment that provides a foundation for meaningful reporting of students' academic progress over time. The model includes both horizontal and vertical alignment as integral parts of the development of content standards, test blueprints, items, item pools, instruments, performance level descriptors,…

Assessment use is a cornerstone of successful counseling. Information from assessments is used for making several important therapeutic decisions, requiring the counselor to have information about assessment devices and approaches. Tests are being published at a remarkable rate; it is a challenge for counselors to stay well informed. Products and…

Every opportunity should be taken to communicate research findings both inside and outside government programs and make them accessible to policy makers, teachers, lecturers, parents, and employers. The "Interchange" series aims to further improve the Educational Research Unit's (ERU) dissemination of the findings of research funded by…

Curriculum suppliers, state departments of education, and home school leaders, are the sources used to estimate that between 248,500 and 353,500 school-aged children (K-12) were educated at home in the 1990-91 school year. This paper explains how this estimate was derived. It provides information on process, possible bias, alternate survey…

Evidence-based practice emerged as a result of the gap often seen between research and practice and gained momentum with the standards and accountability movement. Yet it originates in medicine. Healthcare professionals using evidence-based medicine determine a patient's treatment based on an assessment of evidence from the literature and current…

School data often exists in disparate forms and locations, making it difficult to organize efficiently and to retrieve quickly (Thorn, 2001). Many computer systems are outdated and inadequate, and schools and districts often lack appropriate userfriendly software for data analysis (Bernhardt 2004; Wayman, Stringfield, & Yakimowski, 2004).…

This paper discusses the development and implementation of the system-wide assessment of arts learning in primary and secondary schools that took place in Western Australia in September 1996. The paper describes the background to the assessment, the design brief, and the assessment package as a whole, focusing on the visual arts tests. It…

Family resource centers (FRC) are emerging as a promising program approach to solving urgent social problems. Evaluation plays an important role in learning how these programs work, what their impact is, and whether they should be expanded. However, FRCs pose unique challenges to evaluation. This report considers the challenges to evaluating FRCs,…

Describes the methodology of an adaptation and validation of measurement instruments dealing with stress and problem-solving ability in student teachers, including the psychometric characteristics of the indicators. (EV)

Examined student attitudes toward evaluating teachers and found that they are willing to complete evaluations and have no fear of reprisal, but they also have little confidence that faculty or administrators pay attention to results. (EV)

A survey of business faculty showed that they preferred the traditional paper method of teacher evaluation to an online version, mainly because they believed it would produce a higher and more accurate response than the online method. Found no characteristics that correlated to attitudes. (EV)

Considers the existence of halo effects in individuals' evaluations of target communicators across different dimensions. Notes that halo effects result from raters' inability to discriminate among conceptually distinct and theoretically independent aspects of a target's behavior. Discusses current conceptions of halo error and suggests several…

Reviews current approaches to evaluation of training both in theory and in practice. Highlights include complexities associated with evaluation practice; possible means of expediting the performance of evaluations; expanding the range and precision of data collection using automated systems; and recommendations for further research. (Author/LRW)