Presents a method for evaluating the quality and effectiveness of online courses and learning modules in higher education and corporate training. Highlights include the growing need for evaluation; models of evaluation; the Pedagogy Effectiveness Index; and a summative rating for online courses that includes content factors, usability, and…

More people are participating in adventure programs than ever before. Consequently, the natural resources that support these activities are being compromised, resulting in greater restrictions on land and water use, and implementation of user fees. Trends towards artificial adventure environments, certification and accreditation, litigation and…

Peer helping has become a popular method of dispute resolution in many secondary schools. However, evaluation of such programs is usually anecdotal in content. In order to add to the quantitative data on the effectiveness of peer helping, a peer helping effectiveness scale was designed and implemented; the results of this evaluation effort are…

This paper examines four common measures of treatment outcomes--ethical standards, statistical analysis, standards of care, and social validation--and explores the inherent problems associated with each. Ethical standards may assure the public that only reasoned professional approaches are used, but the ethical treatment of patients does not mean…

The article outlines the functions of evaluating occupational programs, offers a perspective on the focus of the evaluation process, and provides some specific questions for gathering usable information about one's program, students, curriculum, objectives, resources, and evaluation methods. (MW)

Traditional evaluation designs using standardized achievement tests are not sensitive to the specific skills taught to migrant children in summer programs. This report proposes principles for evaluating summer migrant education programs based on the Federal Register requirements. The paper also offers information for designing evaluation…

Careful design of assessment procedures to be used with disadvantaged students is especially important because these students are likely to have one or more characteristics and/or attitudes that place them at particular risk of dropping out (for example, poor self-concept, fear of failure, low level of aspiration, dependence on peer group…

This book looks at the problems of teacher assessment strategies. Focussing on the experience of four school districts that are addressing typical obstacles to initiating significant evaluation efforts, the authors identify the organizational prerequisites and strategies that enable schools to begin and carry out meaningful teacher evaluation…

Rather than automatically presuming explicit conditions exist when designing an evaluation to fit the summative or formative mold, evaluators should think of an evaluation design as fitting between endpoints on an evaluation process continuum. Evaluators can blend techniques from both the formative and summative evaluation, matching actual program…

Noting that instructor and course evaluations represent important, ongoing concerns to students, faculty, and administrators in speech communication, this paper uses the experimental approach to consider the purposes of evaluations, explores major evaluation issues, reviews the literature concerning specific variables possibly related to these…

A review of the literature about practices in evaluating art education programs led to the design of the new evaluation model described in this paper. The literature review revealed that a growing number of authors advocate qualitative methods, and that a debate exists regarding the combination of qualitative and quantitative data gathering and…

In the first stage of a project to improve the general education offerings at Wayne State University (Michigan), the ad hoc committee on general education defined those basic academic skills that a general education program should promote. The process of defining and evaluating the basic skill of communication typified the process of defining and…

General considerations in evaluating bilingual education programs and data aggregation at the state and national levels are presented. Federal and state information requirements and accountability guidelines include the needs for information/data for various audiences, for evaluation resources, for increased project capability to conduct…

The HPI Texas Preschool Screening Inventory (TPSI) is a test to help determine which children might be a risk for learning problems as they enter kindergarten or first grade. The HPI Manual describes the procedure, score interpretation, and rationale for seven components of the test, including auditory memory for numbers and letters, visual memory…

Potential sources of bias in dual language achievement tests were identified and examined. Content, concepts, and vocabulary presented in monolingual English curricula may differ drastically from those presented in bilingual curricula. The Spanish or English versions of the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS) were administered to 1259…