This second edition of the Guidebook is designed to help state educational agencies (SEAs) create an effective system to evaluate state-approved supplemental educational service (SES) providers. The text includes tools and strategies that will help readers determine evaluation measures, identify possible evaluation methodologies, and address the…

Praises Harold Silver's book "Education, Change, and the Policy Process" for its complex, thoughtful essays justifying the use of history to make informed educational policy. Questions Silver's strong focus on top policymakers and his failure to acknowledge policymakers' usual reliance on intuition and ordinary knowledge, not scholarly studies.…

Growing demands for accountability and useful measurement of educational outcomes have contributed to increasing efforts to develop or refine more valid and reliable methods of educational assessment. More states are designing high-quality indicator systems for evaluation at the school, district, and state levels. Seven recommendations derived…

Suggestions are made on effective presentations by evaluators of research studies to audiences who are not statisticians. Examples of effective presentation methods are given: analogies in presenting statistics; graphs or pictorial presentations; summaries to highlight findings; concise reports based on a television newscast style; and judicial…

This paper decribes the case survey method as a technique to overcome data collection problems and lack of integration of case studies. It outlines the roots of the method, distinguishes it from meta-analysis, describes the process with illustrations from an enrollment decline study, and analyzes its strengths and limitations. (BW)

The use of structural equation modelling in curriculum evaluation is discussed in two stages: first, a process model for curriculum evaluation from instructional theory is derived; second, the structural equation model derived from the process analysis and its applications to curriculum evaluation are described. (BW)

This paper presents a case for the use of causal models derived from a substantive knowledge base of theory and research in the evaluation of educational programs. An evaluation of the Adaptive Learning Environments Model (ALEM) illustrates the causal-modeling approach to program evaluation. (BW)

This paper presents a new technique in which covariates are controlled and evaluation data still are presented graphically in a manner that makes sense to policy makers. An illustration is provided using data drawn from an evaluation by the author of a major National Science Foundation (NSF) university funding program. (Author)

This paper discusses problems associated with the application of experimental methods to program evaluation, proposes an alternative approach (program-attribute scaling), and reports the procedure and results of a trial application of the alternative approach. (Author)

The purpose of this article is to comment on practice in the use of existing data bases in program evaluation and school improvement and to explore directions for increased and improved use. (BW)

Serial Evaluation Activities (SEAs) are series' of focused evaluational studies, each dealing with a well-defined "component unit" within a complex project. Strategies for enhancing timeliness in SEAs include a comprehensive conceptual framework, a permanent institutional setting, a prearranged sample plan, utilization of item banks, and advance…

External and implementation factors and their potential threats to field test validity and the practical realities of the field testing process on results are discussed. External factors include site selection, negotiations, contracts, site monitoring, training, and type of product. Implementation factors include motivation, dependence on local…

A critical guide is offered regarding ethnographic evaluation data: the analytical descriptions or reconstructions of intact cultural scenes and groups which delineate the shared beliefs, practices, artifacts, folk knowledge, and behaviors of some group of people. (PN)

Various simple ex post wealth neutrality measures capture different aspects of the concept; the use of one measure alone or several measures independently can lead to interpretation problems. The Adjusted Relationship Measure is introduced to pay attention to actual revenue differences associated with wealth differences. (Author/BW)

Linear programing was used to plan the desegregation program of the Seattle (WA) School District. The application described is unique in two respects: (1) its nearest/next nearest school distinction, using geographically coded student files, and (2) its measurement of the compatibility of two alternative legal frameworks for achieving racial…