The digest presents an overview of program evaluation in gifted and talented education. Reasons for program evaluation are offered, including the need to base decision making on valid and reliable data and the demands of accountability. Eight purposes of program evaluation are briefly considered: (1) documentation of the need for a program; (2)…

Noting that program evaluators can profit by adopting the investigative journalist's goal of discovering hidden information, this guide explores the journalist's investigative process--without its element of suspicion--and discusses how components of this process can be applied to program evaluation. After listing the major characteristics of the…

Values and beliefs underlying assumptions concerning the independent evaluations of persons and programs involved in the educational process are discussed. Particular emphasis is placed on M. Scriven's treatise on bias in evaluation (1976). Works by E. R. House, R. E. Stake, L. Stenhouse, M. Parlett and D. Hamilton, and D. L. Stufflebeam are also…

The purpose of this paper is, generally, to discuss issues related to the evaluation of implementation and, specifically, to provide practical advice about Follow Through implementation and its evaluation. First, the discussion explores philosophical and theoretical assumptions regarding (1) the nature of implementation and evaluation; (2)…

The paper makes two premises: (1) excellence in mainstreaming requires modifications to regular classroom instructional activities, materials, and assessment, and support and assistance for the teachers making these modifications; (2) one criterion to judge the excellence of evaluation of mainstreaming programs is the degree to which an evaluation…

The emerging concept of program theory and its function in program evaluation practice is the central focus of this paper. It appears that the traditional decision/adoption model, when considered in conjunction with the institutionalized beliefs, values, and methodological procedures of the state Cooperative Extension Services, meets the criteria…

Proceedings of a conference on adolescent pregnancy are presented in this document. Eunice Kennedy Shriver's opening address, in which she urged the building of "communities of caring" is summarized, as is the address by Gina C. Adams who discussed recent findings on the topic of adolescent pregnancy. Several programs developed to…

The paper presents an evaluation design for measuring the effectiveness of special education programs for handicapped preschoolers. Reasons for not selecting traditional evaluation designs are noted, and the use of a "change-index" is supported instead. A value-added analysis was selected to determine the value added by the program beyond that…

This article discusses a program designed to develop first-rate teacher educators. (PD)

This article was written to raise some questions and issues which should be considered prior to initiating a program for staff development. (Author/RK)

An exemplary project was funded in North Dakota to develop, implement, and evaluate a versatile office simulation program that would meet the needs of secondary students in varying situations. The Occupational Model Plan can substitute for, or complement the cooperative method in vocational office education. (Author/KP)

Six steps are described which can be used to evaluate a section of an extension program (e.g., the extension agent may have a corn program promoting a new variety and wants to know how many farmers are planting that variety). The steps are (1) state your objectives, (2) identify source of proof, (3) choose a representative sample, (4) use…

This report presents the results of a two-year evaluative study of three State University of New York (SUNY) programs for the recognition and reward of good teaching. The purposes of the study, part of a nationwide investigation of the value of such programs, were to understand how different programs contribute to recognition of good teaching and…

A general model for program evaluation that incorporates the resource allocation paradigm is described in detail, and a schematic representation of the model is provided. (Author)