Given the recent rise in childhood obesity, the School Breakfast Program (SBP) and National School Lunch Program (NSLP) have received renewed attention. Using panel data on more than 13,500 primary school students, we assess the relationship between SBP and NSLP participation and (relatively) long-run measures of child weight. After documenting a…

This paper reports on a comprehensive evaluation of the Advance programme by Victoria University in 2007/08. Advance is a flexible school-based programme for young people to volunteer or implement a project of benefit to their communities in the state of Victoria, in Australia. It is a partnership between the Office for Youth, Victorian government…

A school improvement program that provided support to poor-performing schools on the basis of needs identified in a school improvement plan was implemented in 72 government schools in Jamaica, from 1998 to 2005. In this independent evaluation of the program, we use propensity score matching to create, post hoc, a control group of schools that were…

A key component of comprehensive school and school district emergency management plans is an exercise program that includes the five types of exercises: (1) orientation seminars; (2) drills; (3) tabletop exercises; and (4) functional exercises. Functional exercises are excellent tools for testing the extent to which an existing emergency…

This paper reports on an evaluation of Net-Detectives, a creative online role play activity aimed at 9-12 year olds. Net-Detectives forms part of Kidsmart, an Internet awareness programme aimed at school children. It was evaluated through a multiple method data collection using questionnaire surveys, follow up telephone interviews with teachers…

This article examines the case for the use of the creative arts in the process of designing, conducting, analyzing, and disseminating evaluations. The authors argue that using the creative arts in the process of evaluation evokes different ways of knowing and understanding the values of a program. The insights gained offer a unique addition to…

As the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act comes up for reauthorization in Congress this year, everyone is taking sides. The detractors believe the law should be called "No School Left Standing" and fear that its real intent is to destroy public education. The supporters believe that NCLB has banished mediocrity and exposed the dirty little…

This article presents the state of practice of evaluability assessment (EA) as represented in the published literature from 1986 to 2006. Twenty-three EA studies were located, showing that EA was conducted in a wide variety of programs, disciplines, and settings. Most studies employed document reviews, site visits, and interviews, common…

This document focuses on anger management programs utilized within and outside of school systems. Eleven programs are reviewed and delineated into the following categories: age/grade level, group size, target population, theoretical basis, techniques utilized, and skills acquired. Practical knowledge of the programs is presented in order to…

A procedure is outlined for understanding and evaluating interagency collaboration. Five steps are addressed: (1) understanding the context of an interagency collaboration (stages of development, communication channels used); (2) verifying the need for interagency collaboration (needs for increased client access to services and reduced duplication…

The advantages of the adversary evaluation model are argued. Adversary evaluation utilizes a judicial, argumentative approach and promotes the use of multiple types and sources of data. It grants an investigative license to dig out the data to a greater extent than more traditional approaches. Some of the payoffs of the adversary approach are: (1)…

This paper is addressed to administrators and evaluators in school districts which are initiating bilingual education programs in compliance with a U.S. Supreme Court decision. Major evaluation problems are described and remedies suggested. Each step in the sequence, from needs assessment through final report, is discussed and illustrated. The…

Presents nine guidelines to use in evaluating a sports program. (IRT)

This checklist was prepared as an aid to evaluators, funding agents, clients, members of program staff about to be evaluated, and pertinent audiences in planning, preparing, and reviewing contracts for conducting evaluation studies. It contains neither a set of "how to" procedures for constructing contracts, nor a discussion of the many…