A pioneering set of field tested projects guidelines for evaluating school programs, projects, & materials, setting standards for utility, feasibility, propriety & accuracy. They can be used by administrators, counselors, curriculum specialists, school psychiatrists, teachers, & testing directors.

"The Program Evaluation Standards is a 'must-have' book for anyone responsible for reviewing evaluation proposals, planning and conducting evaluations, managing evaluation projects, or judging the merit and worth of evaluations once completed. For experienced practitioners, it provides a set of values and principles by which to guide successful practice, that is, a set of criteria that determines whether educational evaluations are trustworthy and fair. The Standards sets expectations of the design and implementation of educational evaluation for all practitioners in all types of educational arenas, even those involved in social programming endeavors. For newcomers and those less experienced who may be responsible for commissioning and using evaluations, the Standards supplies a useful framework of generating a list of questions to raise about any evaluation plan or final report in an effort to assess its pros and cons. The book is an invaluable 'how-to' resource for graduate students venturing out into the field, and it instills a sense of what it means to be a responsible evaluator. For clients or consumers, the book offers advice on what they should expect of an evaluation"--Publisher description.

Abstract: Prepared as a guide and handbook for planners, developers, and evaluators of educational programs and products, practical insights are given on planning and executing effective evaluations. The evaluator's work is viewed as establishing perspective, planning the evaluation, and analyzing the data. Procedures that are appropriate for each of these activities are identified for the reader. The subject matter in this multiauthored book is divided into roles and contexts, models and strategies, and methods and techniques. Contributors also depict today's standards for evaluation and project what those standards will be in the future.

Including a new section on evaluation accountability, this Third Edition details 30 standards which give advice to those interested in planning, implementing and using program evaluations.

Drawing upon experiences at state and local level project evaluation, and based on current research in the professional literature, Payne presents a practical, systematic, and flexible approach to educational evaluations. Evaluators at all levels -- state, local and classroom -- will find ideas useful in conducting, managing, and using evaluations. Special user targets identified are state department of education personnel and local school system administrative personnel. The volume can be used by those doing evaluation projects `in the field', or as a text for graduate courses at an introductory level. The book begins with an overview of the generic evaluation process. Chapter Two is devoted to the criteria for judging the effectiveness of evaluation practice. Chapter Three addresses the all important topic of evaluation goals and objectives. Chapters Four, Five and Six basically are concerned with the approach, framework, or design of an evaluation study. Chapter Four contains a discussion of four major philosophical frameworks or metaphors and the implications of these frameworks for conducting an evaluation. Chapters Five and Six describe predominantly quantitative and qualitative designs, respectively. Design, implementation and operational issues related to instrumentation (Chapter Seven), management and decision making (Chapter Eight), and reporting and utilization of results (Chapter Nine) are next addressed. The final chapter of the book (Chapter Ten) considers the evaluation of educational products and materials.

During the past two decades, evaluation has come to play an increasingly important role in the operation of educational and social programs by national, state, and local agencies. Mandates by federal funding agencies that programs they sponsored be evaluated gave impetus to use of evaluation. Realization that evaluation plays a pivotal role in assuring program quality and effectiveness has maintained the use of evaluation even where mandates have been relaxed. With increased use --indeed institutionalization --of evaluation in many community, state, and national agencies, evaluation has matured as a profession, and new evaluation approaches have been developed to aid in program planning, implementation, monitoring, and improvement. Much has been written about various philosophical and theoretical orientations to evaluation, its relationship to program management, appropriate roles evaluation might play, new and sometimes esoteric evaluation methods, and particular evaluation techniques. Useful as these writings are, relatively little has been written about simple but enormously important activities which comprise much of the day-to-day work of the program evaluator. This book is focused on some of these more practical aspects that largely determine the extent to which evaluation will prove helpful.