Describes the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in nurse education at the University of Wales Bangor. Explains the evaluation strategy for a longitudinal study of ICT, summarizes emerging trends in learning evaluation, discusses best practices in evaluation, and considers the expanding role of the evaluator. (Author/LRW)

Experiences from evaluation of the American Sociological Association's Project to Improve Undergraduate Training in Sociology, and ways that evaluators can avoid alienating program participants are discussed. Data highlight the futility of measurement couched solely in terms of success and failure. A conceptual framework based on organizational…

Data collected at two law enforcement agencies were used to address three specific issues concerning frame-of-reference rater training: (1) prototype-anchored rating system; (2) sensitivity and threshold analyses to identify idiosyncratic raters; and (3) areas of performance where supervisors and subordinates were likely to disagree on frame of…

Discusses effects of test question order on student performance. Addresses (1) differences in the distribution of scores on each form of the examination; (2) effects on the validity of individual examination items; and (3) effects on the reliability of the examination instrument. Concludes that distribution of examination scores may be influenced…

Reviews background information about portfolio assessment. Describes the experiences of the faculty in one school with a schoolwide portfolio assessment system. Shares struggles and solutions which may be valuable to others seeking to develop alternative assessment programs. (MG)

Presents an overview of this special journal issue which discusses the evaluation of computers in education, based on a workshop held in Scotland in January 1990. Evaluative methods in general are discussed, distinctions between evaluation and measurement are described, types of evaluation are explained, and the use of measuring instruments in…

Draws on findings from evaluations of recent reform initiatives in Alabama, North Carolina, and Ohio to suggest that performance-measurement systems for state child-welfare programs must adapt to changing circumstances, especially when improvements in one area can influence standards and expectations in others. (Author/KB)

Describes how child well-being has been conceptualized and measured in research on family foster care, and discusses the essential dimensions that should be included in a useful measure of child well-being. Discusses challenges in incorporating measures of child well-being into ongoing evaluations of family foster care. (Author)

Faced with the absence of a conceptual framework and the terminology for establishing evaluation criteria in the substance abuse prevention services field, this special issue is devoted to exploring the topics of accountability and performance measures. It discusses the requisite components (i.e., theory, methodology, convention on terms, data)…

Describes the Template Project, which drew on the evaluation needs and techniques of service industries to create an evaluation instrument for distance education courses. Asserts that this method of evaluating distance education courses allows for students' perceptions of their programs to be identified and used. (EV)

Evaluation of initiatives for widening participation in higher education by nontraditional groups should avoid positivist, economic approaches in favor of participatory action research (PAR). An example from Britain shows how PAR finds local solutions for local problems; promotes empowerment, ownership, and sustainability; and bridges and…

Submits survey instruments on college student development used by Tinto, Astin, and Pace to five probes from recent social theory--voice, power, authenticity, self-reflexivity, and reconstitution--and proposes a shift in focus in student development research from essentialized categories like culture and race to relation and learning "between"…

Developed and tested the Social Work Self-Efficacy Scale, which assesses social workers' confidence regarding a broad range of social work tasks. Pre-post data from two cohorts of social work students showed significant positive change in MSW students' self-efficacy, suggesting a new approach to outcomes assessment in social work education. (EV)

Evaluates the equivalence of translated achievement tests administered to 4,400 English- and French-speaking sixth-graders. Items displaying differential item functioning were flagged using three statistical methods; results were relatively consistent across methods, but not identical. Substantive review of French items via back-translation to…

Reviews treatment acceptability measures and practices that have been developed and used to assess the social validity of behavioral interventions. Develops and applies a comparative framework to provide a systematic critique of nine treatment acceptability measures. No one instrument was selected to be the most comprehensive and it is argued that…