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Initially, evaluation was derived from social science research methodology and accountability concerns. This book examines evaluation theories and traces their evolution with the point of view that theories build upon theories and, therefore, evaluation theories are related to each other.
Mind-opening writing on what kids need from school, from one of education’s most outspoken voices Almost no writer on schools asks us to question our fundamental assumptions about education and motivation as boldly as Alfie Kohn. The Washington Post says that “teachers and parents who encounter Kohn and his thoughts come away transfixed, ready to change their schools.” And Time magazine has called him “perhaps the country’s most outspoken critic of education’s fixation on grades [and] test scores.” Here is challenging and entertaining writing on where we should go in American education, in Alfie Kohn’s unmistakable voice. He argues in the title essay with those who think that...
The book examines and annotates an actual case study to demonstrate to readers how to resolve some of the major issues of case study research, for example : how the case is selected, how to generalize what is learned from one case to another, and how to interpret data. Other topics covered include : differences between quantitative and qualitative approaches, data-gathering including document review, coding, sorting and pattern analysis, the roles of the researcher, triangulation and reporting a case study.
Examining situational complexity is a vital part of social and behavioral science research. This engaging text provides an effective process for studying multiple cases--such as sets of teachers, staff development sessions, or clinics operating in different locations--within one complex program. The process also can be used to investigate broadly occurring phenomena without programmatic links, such as leadership or sibling rivalry. Readers learn to design, analyze, and report studies that balance common issues across the group of cases with the unique features and context of each case. Three actual case reports from a transnational early childhood program illustrate the author's approach, and helpful reproducible worksheets facilitate multicase recording and analysis.
This book addresses the important question of how the United Nations (UN) should monitor and evaluate the impact of police in its peace operations. UN peace operations are a vital component of international conflict management. Since the end of the Cold War one of the foremost developments has been the rise of UN policing (UNPOL). Instances of UNPOL action have increased dramatically in number and have evolved from passive observation to participation in frontline law enforcement activities. Attempts to ascertain the impact of UNPOL activities have proven inadequate. This book seeks to redress this lacuna by investigating the ways in which the effects of peace operations – and UNPOL in par...
Evaluation examines policies and programs across every arena of human endeavor, from efforts to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS to programs that drive national science policy. Relying on a vast array of methods, from qualitative interviewing to econometrics, it is a "transdiscipline," as opposed to a formal area of academic study. Accounting for these challenges, Evaluation Foundations Revisited offers an introduction for those seeking to better understand evaluation as a professional field. While the acquisition of methods and methodologies to meet the needs of certain projects is important, the foundation of evaluative practice rests on understanding complex issues to balance. Evaluation Found...
Screening applicants for adoption or foster homes has life-altering consequences for the children involved, yet there are incredibly few programs available to train screeners. The educational system that certifies thousands of social workers each year does not understand the specialized training required to screen adoptive and foster parents; social work schools provide minimal interview training and what training they do provide focuses on therapeutic interview techniques rather than screening skills. There is a clear need for a book like Adoptive and Foster Parent Screening, one that can be incorporated into course requirements and used by working social workers and psychologists involved ...
Hear from evaluation practitioners throughout Latin America. In this region program evaluation is an emergent practice, one that is shaped by distinctive geopolitical and social contexts and has its own intellectual biography. Through a selection of writings and cases this issue provides a window on program evaluation in this region. The articles indicate a range of experiences and concerns that respond to the countries’ unique histories and cultures. Articles by evaluators from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Peru illustrate new directions and are grouped around the following themes: Strategic use of evaluation in public policies and active citizenship Innovative project evaluation examples Evaluation capacity building and institutionalization. The widespread development of participatory or actor-oriented approaches, based on qualitative methodologies that have a particularly Latin American stamp, are emphasized in this issue. This is the 134th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Evaluation, an official publication of the American Evaluation Association.
This book, based on detailed studies of eight innovations in mathematics and science education, has many insights to offer on current school reform. Since each innovation studied has taken its own unique approach, the set as a whole spans the spectrum from curriculum development to systemic reform, from c- centrating on particular school populations to addressing all of K-12 education. Yet these reform projects share a common context, a world view on what m- ters in science and mathematics for students of the 1990s and beyond, conv- tions about what constitutes effective instruction, and some notions about how school change can be brought about. These commonalities are drawn out in the book ...