Post-graduate courses are periodically evaluated in accordance with not always very clear criteria by CAPES (Co-ordinating Committee for Teaching Staff Improvement). These criteria try to measure, among other things, academic productivity (including quantity and quality of scientific production), number of classes given by teachers, time to…

This article presents a picture of how unique, varied and valuable the AECT intern experience can be. While some of the reflections are very broad and others very specific in focus, the authors have discussed as a group their shared conviction that these experiences are not limited only to the AECT interns. The possibilities for similar…

Government and public focus on accountability for program outcomes, combined with practical and ethical constraints on experimental designs, make nonexperimental studies of social programs an increasingly common approach to producing information on program performance. In this paper, we compare the effectiveness of alternative nonexperimental…

An important final step in the life cycles of programs and their evaluation involves assessing new programs' or innovations' sustainability. This review and synthesis of 19 empirical studies of the sustainability of American and Canadian health-related programs examines the extent of sustainability achieved and summarizes factors contributing to…

The Key Stage 3 Strategy is a complex and evolving government strategy intended to improve the education of 11- to 14-year-olds in England. This paper provides a snapshot of its development by early 2004, drawing on our evaluation of the pilot phase which began in 2000. The evolution of the Strategy, with its phased introduction of both subject…

Describes the conceptual scheme for a 1-year evaluation course designed to each the competencies required to conduct evaluations that provide the sense-making for informed decision making. Draws on the authors' experience in developing such a course over 4 years. (SLD)

Describes the training in program evaluation received at Northwestern University and the ways in which that training and the program experience have influenced the career of an evaluator working for the federal government. (SLD)

On Track started life in 2000 as part of the Crime Reduction Programme in the Home Office, but was shifted to the Children and Young People's Unit less than a year later. This paper describes tensions that emerged during the first phase of the evaluation of this innovative programme, designed to provide interventions for four to twelve year olds…

The author analyzes the nature of study programme assessment with regard to the assurance of study quality. The organisation of the assessment process of the non-university study programmes which were developed and submitted for realisation in Lithuania and other countries is also presented and compared. It is being analysed whether it is possible…

Professional development (PD) has emerged over that last decade as a recognised area of study (Evans 2002). PD of teachers is seen as an essential ingredient for creating effective schools and raising students' performance (Rhodes & Houghton-Hill 2000; Wood & Millichamp 2000; Birman, Desimone, Porter & Garet 2000). Since teachers have the most…

Clearly defined and measurable goals are commonly considered prerequisites for effective evaluation. Goal setting, however, presents a paradox to evaluators because it takes place at the interface of rationality and values. The objective of this article is to demonstrate a method for unlocking this paradox by making goal setting a process of…

Important findings are often a balance between the rigor of the experimental design and innovativeness of the experimental question. One broad topic area that has received a great deal of discussion, but little empirical study, is the evaluation of educational systems. Experimental designs that permit the analysis of practices used by state…

Use of electronic teaching materials (e-material) to support teaching is a trend. e-Material design is therefore an important issue. Currently, most e-material providers offer a package of solutions for different purposes. However, not all teachers and learners need everything from a single package. A preferable alternative is to find useful…

This study examined the talent search program from the perspectives of local school officials who enroll their students in the program, a topic on which little research currently exists. Specifically, the authors were interested in the following issues and questions: (1) How do local schools learn about talent search and how do they encourage…

This article presents a comprehensive taxonomy of essential competencies for program evaluators. First, the authors provide a rationale for developing evaluator competencies, along with a brief history of the initial development and validation of the taxonomy of essential evaluator competencies in King, Stevahn, Ghere, and Minnema (2001). Second,…