This paper is a case study about the role of evaluation and its effect on a foster care program's adoption services. It presents examples of the dilemmas often faced by the evaluator who must identify problems and design action plans to correct program deficiencies. HeartShare Human Services of New York is an 80-year-old nonprofit agency that…

This report explores background data collected as part of recent large-scale literacy surveys because these data may contribute to an understanding of the variables associated with demonstrated proficiency. The first section reviews various approaches to large-scale assessments of literacy. This review sets the context for exploring variation in…

This resource guide is intended to help in planning special education program evaluations. It focuses on: basic evaluation concepts, identification of special education decision makers and their information needs, specific evaluation questions, procedures for gathering relevant information, and evaluation of the evaluation process itself.…

The nine-volume Survey Kit is designed to help readers prepare and conduct surveys and become better users of survey results. All the books in the series contain instructional objectives, exercises and answers, examples of surveys in use, illustrations of survey questions, guidelines for action, checklists of "dos and don'ts," and…

In preparation for an accreditation visit, Hutchinson Community College (HCC), in Kansas, conducted a self-study to determine if their institutional practices were consistent with their mission and undertook other activities to ensure a smooth site visit. A steering committee first prepared a self-study manual which identified the purpose, goals,…

Since 1988 five evaluations of Federal demonstration programs in education have been implemented that had random-assignment designs to measure program impacts. The implementation of two of these evaluations, the evaluation of the School Dropout Demonstration Assistance Program and that of the Alternative Schools Random Assignment Program, are…

This paper has two aims, each bearing on recent developments in evaluation policy. The first is to summarize a report presented in 1980 to the United States Congress and Department of Education, concerning evaluation policy and practices at the national, state, and local levels of government. The second aim is to link some of the United States…

This report presents the results of a yearlong study of the process of evaluation use in a large city school district. Based on extensive naturalistic data-gathering, the research documents how local school administrators use evaluation information generated by the district's research and evaluation unit. The significance of the research is the…

The paper describes the development of a course on evaluation in business and industry, offered as part of a Master's program in Human Resource Development. Since the average age of the students was 36, special emphasis was placed on structuring the class to increase relevance to the students' working lives and to ways adults learn best. A brief…

The first of three volumes, this report consists of a review of the literature on performance appraisal with special attention to the literature on certificated personnel in public education systems in the United States and Canada. The literature review shows that there are two predominant approaches to conducting performance appraisals and two…

When the Educational Testing Service became the administrator of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 1983, it introduced scales based on item response theory (IRT) as a way of presenting results of the assessment to the general public. Some properties of the scales and their uses are discussed. Initial attempts at presenting…

This report contains two papers that resulted from the Multilevel Evaluation Systems (MES) Project. The first paper is "Political and Practical Issues in Improving School Boards' Use of Evaluation Data" by Joan Herman. The second paper is "Principals: Their Use of Formal and Informal Data" by Shari Golan and Jeanne Dreyfus. The…

Up until now Hispanics have not gotten involved in the policy analysis field. By learning to specifically assess the actual or potential impact of alternate policies or programs, it will be possible to help decision makers adopt policies which are more equitable to Hispanics. The following steps may help an individual carry out policy analysis:…

One of a series dealing with current issues affecting language arts instruction, this paper focuses on writing evaluations. The paper begins by noting that any practical discussion of the evaluation of writing must address the question of how to obtain reliable, informative judgments about students' writing. The paper then discusses the purposes…

During a 1985 symposium in Chicago sponsored by the American Society for Curriculum Development, Noreen Garman, Carl Glickman, and Madeline Hunter discussed the question of whether clinical supervision should be used for formal evaluation and contract renewal. While Hunter's answer was a qualified "yes," Garman and Glickman both felt strongly that…