Evaluation Research and Evaluation: Scientific Social Reform Movement and Ideology

The idea that human services programs should be evaluated is accepted by most practitioners and researchers. Discussion is about the technical aspects of this research and about how practitioners can be encouraged to utilize evaluative findings in their everyday practice. Emphasis is placed also on the organizational barriers to this utilization. These ideas and issues are found in a growing literature in the social sciences and, increasingly, in the even faster growing literatures in the professions and in the human services, including the social services, medical and health services, criminal justice and the like. Here, evaluation research is discussed from a different perspective: as a scientific social reform movement and as an ideology. Attempt is made to offer a beginning analysis of some elements in the evaluation ideology and to focus attention on some of the consequences of this ideology and social movement for staff in human service agencies

Toward an Integrated, Whole Community Model of Dropout Prevention

As part of a statewide evaluation of dropout prevention programs in Virginia, survey data were collected statewide from school district dropout prevention coordinators. Ninety-four of the 103 school divisions (91 %) receiving state funds for dropout prevention responded to the survey. In addition, school staff were interviewed as part of a case study of seven schools to identify approaches to improving parent and community involvement, and focus groups were conducted with community agency representatives and parents. The interview data were analyzed using Joyce Epstein\u27s model (see Table I) which organizes practical actions and likely outcomes for five types of parent involvement (1989): Type 1 -Parenting; Type 2 -Communicating; Type 3 -Volunteering; Type 4- Learning at Home; and Type 5 -Representing Other Parents. Using this approach showed that most parent involvement activities were of Types 2 and 3, and then 5, and that more talk than action is given to Types 1 and 4, both among school professionals and among parents

Empowering the voice of youth: The role of youth advisory councils in grant making focused on youth

This article will focus on the potential role for youth evaluation advisory groups within youth grant‐making organizations and networks. The main elements to be discussed include the formation of the network, the training program elements, some specific examples of efforts by young people to create and strengthen evaluation within their YACs (youth advisory councils), and the lessons learned. ©Wiley Periodicals, Inc., and the American Evaluation Association.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95685/1/20036_ftp.pd

Michael Baizerman's Quick Files

The Quick Files feature was discontinued and it’s files were migrated into this Project on March 11, 2022. The file URL’s will still resolve properly, and the Quick Files logs are available in the Project’s Recent Activity