This updated edition of the bestseller features a five-step NCLB-based process that demonstrates how skillfully administered annual program evaluations result in lasting educational benefits.

This updated edition on evaluating the effectiveness of school programs provides an expanded needs-assessment section, additional methods for data analysis, and tools for communicating program results.

This book is a guide is for school practitioners who want to know more about planning and conducting focus groups as an aid to decision-making. It emphasizes practical and cost-effective ways to ensure accurate results. After defining the focus group, chapter 1 offers ways focus groups can be used in schools and reasons for using them. Chapter 2 discusses guidelines for selecting a moderator. Chapter 3 explains how to clarify the purpose of the focus group. Chapter 4 explains how to determine which participants to include in the focus groups. Chapter 5 examines strategies for scheduling the number, location, and duration of the focus groups. Chapter 6 considers choices about recording the discussion, remunerating participants, asking for participant releases, and having an advance organizer. Chapter 7 covers all aspects of recruiting participants. Chapter 8 examines the protocol for conducting the focus groups. Chapter 9 contains guidelines for moderating the group. Chapter 10 discusses the analysis of information gained and the writing of reports. Each chapter offers examples from past focus groups and reproducible checklists of activities that must be completed, as well as samples of forms, letters, and lists. Many topics are accompanied by a summary of differing opinions from the literature. (Contains 35 references.) (RKJ)

Achieve lasting educational benefits through masterfully administered school program evaluations! The annual process of evaluating school programs raises a legitimate question: how to implement quality program evaluations that will not drain a school′s resources, but instead help create a school culture that promotes inspired teaching and high academic achievement-and meets NCLB guidelines? In this updated edition of the bestselling text, authors James R. Sanders and Carolyn D. Sullins demonstrate how an effective program evaluation process can conserve resources while yielding substantial benefits for teachers, parents, students, and schools. This user-friendly resource provides concise yet comprehensive coverage of school program evaluation through a highly regarded five-step program. Illustrated by examples and case studies, this approach is designed to help educators develop competence and confidence in program evaluation. Both practicing and aspiring educators can learn to: Successfully manage logistical and scheduling problems Strategically approach school politics, ethical considerations, and interpersonal relations Comprehensively organize and analyze information regarding school programs Effectively respond to the No Child Left Behind Act Discover how to skillfully administer school evaluations that produce lasting educational results!

This engaging text takes an evenhanded approach to major theoretical paradigms in evaluation and builds a bridge from them to evaluation practice. Featuring helpful checklists, procedural steps, provocative questions that invite readers to explore their own theoretical assumptions, and practical exercises, the book provides concrete guidance for conducting large- and small-scale evaluations. Numerous sample studies—many with reflective commentary from the evaluators—reveal the process through which an evaluator incorporates a paradigm into an actual research project. The book shows how theory informs methodological choices (the specifics of planning, implementing, and using evaluations). It offers balanced coverage of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches. Useful pedagogical features include: *Examples of large- and small-scale evaluations from multiple disciplines. *Beginning-of-chapter reflection questions that set the stage for the material covered. *"Extending your thinking" questions and practical activities that help readers apply particular theoretical paradigms in their own evaluation projects. *Relevant Web links, including pathways to more details about sampling, data collection, and analysis. *Boxes offering a closer look at key evaluation concepts and additional studies. *Checklists for readers to determine if they have followed recommended practice. *A companion website with resources for further learning.

The book highlights the importance of multiple perspectives of the transition to school and offers suggestions about how the perspectives of children, families, educators and community members might be included and analysed in evaluation strategies.

How to Evaluate the Effectiveness of a School-Based Intervention presents a multi-dimensional evaluation framework, which is not only based on measurable outcomes. Suggesting a cost-effective method of conducting a multi-dimensional evaluation, this book investigates how these skills can be defined and assessed effectively.