Evaluated the Rodeo Institute for Teacher Excellence (RITE), a phonics-based program that addressed at-risk students' failure to develop reading skills and provided teacher professional development. Data on K-2 students in intervention and control schools indicated that the RITE program successfully increased RITE students' reading abilities,…

Asserts that only by evaluating the effectiveness of distance education programs can their use be justified and their quality improved. Discusses how to conduct formative and summative evaluations of distance education programs. (EV)

Presents conversion factors to be used to translate the quality of the respective contraception methods distributed to a single measure of protection for calculating couple-years of protection in family planning studies. Discusses the implications for the evaluation of family planning programs. (SLD)

Reports on the theory-driven evaluation of a drop-in center for youth that incorporates a literature search, concept mapping with staff, and focus groups with youth. Findings show strong agreement among the three data sources about critical program components. Discusses implications of a theory-driven approach. (Author/SLD)

Presents an algorithm for integrating evaluative concerns of cost effectiveness, equity, quality, and sustainability in program evaluation and offers suggestions for refining the system of measurement and analysis. (SLD)

Describes an evaluator's experiences constructing a World Wide Web site to collect evaluation data and discusses the technical and design challenges presented by data collection via the Web. Discusses eight lessons of Web-based data collection and outlines the advantages of the approach. (SLD)

Evaluates effectiveness of an intervention program for students with low self-concept and social relationship difficulties. The ABLE program (Attribution, Behavior, Life Skills Education) incorporates problem-solving, conflict resolution, and a multidimensional framework to investigate adolescents' self-concept formation. Improvements were made in…

Synthesizes the long-term findings of three major evaluations of programs that began in the late 1980s and were designed to improve the self-efficacy of teenage mothers on welfare. Economic outcomes for the mothers improved over time, and the interventions had some positive effects, although they did not affect fertility. (SLD)

Argues for maintaining a discovery capacity (both qualitative and quantitative) in evaluations of community-based health and human service programs. Discovery capacity is defined as a mechanism to detect new insights and developments in programs. Cites reasons this capacity is especially important in community-based programs. (SLD)

Explores the impact and consumer satisfaction associated with participation in a parent education program, Kids in Divorce and Separation (K.I.D.S.), that specifically focuses on divorce and parental conflict. Results indicate that participation in the program has positive effects on parents' self-reported knowledge and behavior with regard to…

Examines the monitoring results from two large-scale metering and energy information projects: Texas LoanSTAR Program; and the Texas A & M Campus Project. Data suggest implementing an energy metering system is cost effective, particularly if the system can be coupled with skilled engineering applications such as energy cost allocation and…

Reflects on empowerment evaluation, the use of evaluation to foster improvement and self-determination. Empowerment evaluation uses quantitative and qualitative methods, and usually focuses on program evaluation. Discusses the growth in empowerment evaluation as a result of interest in participatory evaluation. (SLD)

Eight criteria for culturally competent scholarship (contextuality, relevance, communication styles, awareness of identity and power differences, disclosure, reciprocation, empowerment, time) were applied to an international education/research nursing program. Appropriate measures for each were developed and ways to improve the program were…

Suggests that students and tutors resist conference summaries because they maintain a hierarchy between student and tutor. Proposes that tutors and students need to embrace the resistance that they feel toward conference summaries and rethink how tutoring sessions are "written up." Concludes that tutors must be willing to believe that students can…

Limiting data collection to a sample group is one way to increase effectiveness in dealing with data. The paper describes how to draw a sample group (random sampling, stratified random sampling, purposeful sampling, and convenient or opportunity sampling) and discusses how to determine the size of the sample group. (SM)