Explores the effects evidence-based practice and the guideline movement will have on evaluation in the future and discusses the impact on evaluation of three aspects of the current information revolution: (1) e-government; (2) new approaches to data access; and (3) real-time evaluation. Also considers the sources of evaluation innovation and the…

The reports highlighted in this issue offer an excellent view of the success, value, and contributions of the National Household Education Surveys (NHES) Program. Also discusses the federal statistical system and the role that NHES and other national household surveys play in providing the United States with information needed for policy…

Accounting faculty (n=180) rated items for effectiveness in assessing research, teaching, and service. They perceived a strong role for department chairs in all three areas. Their ratings of their institutions assessment programs were not high. (SK)

To determine if students engaged in rating faculty members used different cognitive sets as a function of the explicit purpose for which ratings were obtained. A field experiment was conducted involving 141 graduate students. Results indicate that the purpose of assessment fails to influence the pattern of faculty ratings provided by students.…

The field of augmentative and alternative communication's (AAC) missing link is the discrepancy between what the research community identifies as needs and what the clinical community, including the AAC user, believes to be the AAC user's needs. An unrealistic picture of the AAC user occurs, developing a top-down effect of limited outcomes,…

Few examples exist on how to use survey data to inform public environmental education programs. I suggest a process for interpreting statewide survey data with the four questions that give insights into local context and make it possible to gain insight into potential target audiences and community priorities. The four questions are: What…

This paper describes the use of a new project, "from the inside looking out" (FILO) (N. Richardson Unpublished data), to develop communication, interaction and emotional literacy skills with people with profound and multiple learning disabilities. The authors utilized tools derived from Intensive Interaction Therapy [D. Hewett & M. Nind (1994)…

The topic of professional and corporate ethics is one that is discussed frequently in the general media today. With unindicted and unconvicted ethical violators like Kenneth Lay of Enron and Richard Scrushy of Health South appearing as anathemas to those who study and attempt to incorporate ethical tenets into everyday professional life, debates…

In a climate of accountability, the development of "assessment literacy" among school professionals has become critical to school success. The provision of "assessment leadership" is viewed as the means by which such literacy can be enhanced. The writers examine the conditions under which student achievement gains can be…

This article deals with using formative assessments to individualize instruction and promote learning. Formative assessment serves the dual purpose of giving the teacher information on the effectiveness of the lesson and giving students information on the current state of their learning. Such information can guide future instructional decisions.…

In Design and Technology lessons English primary school pupils between the ages of 5 and 11 learn to design and make artefacts with materials and tools. Teachers, mainly non-specialists, are expected to teach specific skills, knowledge and understanding in contexts which are deemed to be meaningful to the pupils. In 1996 a set of primary school…

"The Program Evaluation Standards," established by 16 professional associations, identify evaluation principles that should result in improved program evaluations that address utility, propriety, feasibility, and accuracy. This digest summarizes these standards. Guidelines and illustrative cases to assist in meeting these standards are…

Papers in this collection explore alternative and nontraditional approaches to evaluation. They provide options, speculations, and propositions that affect each thinker's ideas on how to trace the impact of National Science Foundation-supported programs. Organized around a central theme of footprints as evidence of a program's impact, the papers…

Over the past 25 years, there has been a gradual recognition that counseling children and adolescents is much different than counseling adults. Because of this difference, numerous books, games, and articles have focused on what assessment and intervention strategies work with the child and adolescent population. However, many of these…

This paper proposes a model to establish which criteria are considered by stakeholders as valid for evaluating a program. The model is developed with the aim of increasing the credibility and use of evaluations. Stakeholders are involved in the identification of potential evaluation criteria, and ratings of validity and priority are used as the…