A responsive illuminative approach was used to evaluate a program for training motorcycle riders. This approach provided interaction between evaluators and participants, and attempted to provide a detailed report reflecting stakeholders' views. The design, implementation, and reporting of the evaluation are described, as are implications for…

This investigation examined the effect contextual variables had on a national sample of school board members' information needs for decision making. Importance, conflict, and content were found to be associated with board members' needs for time, information, and consultation. (Author/LMO)

Avoid the one-shot approach to evaluating administrators by designing a continuous system that focuses on improved performance. The four parts of this school district's evaluation system--philosophy, procedures, instruments, and training--are described, and a sidebar lists the specific job duties used in evaluating administrative performance. (DCS)

This case history of the Colorado Study of Learning Disabilities illustrates a variety of functions an evaluation study may serve for policy shapers at the state level. The impact of the initial evaluation is followed over two years, focusing on its use by influential participants in Colorado's special education policy-shaping community. (BW)

The major purpose of this study was to discover whether existing practices for evaluating instruction are intended to help elementary school teachers improve student learning. The study examined similarities and differences in the perceptions of teachers and principals about teacher evaluation and analyzed the degrees to which evaluation of…

With accurate information, educators are better able to make effective decisions. Besides being used to assess student performance, a complete program of data collection and use can also show educators how management skills, individual learning styles, and other elements affect student achievement. This digest in Spanish provides an overview of…

This workbook was created as a "do it yourself" tool for helping organizations and career counseling services develop policies and standards to enhance the quality of services. The process is aimed at helping articulate policies that are sensible for each organization and challenging and achievable by staff. It is intended to be a…

This digest addresses the role of evaluation and its basic logic, and provides a description of how the field is structured. In order to reach evaluative conclusions it is usually necessary to establish or identify factual promises and value premises. To obtain the required kind of overall evaluative conclusion, it is typically necessary to…

This guide is designed to help districts and schools, participating in the federally sponsored Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration Program, meet the evaluation requirements of the program as well as their own needs for useful evaluation information. Much of the information is applicable to any local jurisdiction engaged in school reform that…

Evaluation management requires a system for measuring, improving, and accounting for quality. The Institute for Program Evaluation in the United States General Accounting Office is developing such a system. (Author)

This article considers the advantages and disadvantages of having evaluation users increase the specificity of evaluation requirements through a review of legislative requirements behind several congressionally mandated national-level evaluations, and an in-depth examination of one congressionally mandated evaluation in which very specific design…

The promise of the stakeholder approach to evaluation lies in its potential to counter criticism that evaluation is too narrow, unrealistic in its standards for success, unfair to program staff and participants, and irrelevant to decision makers. (Author)

Critiquing the stakeholder idea, the author states: if government chooses to take account of competing views in social program evaluation, it can get a better result if it encourages the competing views to find a voice of their own, not to speak through the government's chosen instrument. (Author/PN)

Articles in this special issue suggest improvements in longitudinal program evaluation to meet the challenges of evaluation of human services programs. Contributions describe innovations in design, methods, data analysis, utilization, and interpretation of the findings of longitudinal studies. (SLD)

Discusses applications of the Problem Solving Inventory for counseling and managed health care, career and industrial/organizational issues, training, and academic performance. Examines the role of problem solving in psychological health and describes the inventory, how to administer it, and previous research findings. (RJM)