Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis

Mazzoni, Tim L.

doi: 10.3102/01623737015004357pmid: N/A

Twenty existing case studies of state decision making on education issues from 1971 to 1991 are analyzed to portray the changing nature of Minnesota’s education policy system and to consider whether Iannaccone’s oft-used “structural linkage” typology retains explanatory power. Minnesota’s system has become more pluralistic, politicized, and bureaucratized. It is buffeted by state revenue fluctuations and by national—and global—forces. But its reformist tradition continues as does its considerable capacity for policy innovation. Reformulations of the Iannaccone typology find some support in Minnesota data. Other perspectives, however, clearly hold more promise for policy process research in education.

Placier, Margaret L.

doi: 10.3102/01623737015004380pmid: N/A

Definitions of key policy terms are important elements in policy construction. Accordingly, the power to define such terms is a linguistic marker of relationships among players in the policy process. Combining a linguistic framework with the cultural framework of Marshall, Mitchell, and Wirt (1989), this article traces definition of the term at risk in the context of one state, Arizona. Researchers in the Department of Education used the definition process as an opportunity to enhance the department’s prestige and power in relation to other policy-making bodies.

Goldring, Ellen B.; Shapira, Rina

doi: 10.3102/01623737015004396pmid: N/A

School choice advocates maintain that parents who choose their schools will be satisfied with those schools. This study examines the nature of the interrelationships between parents’ satisfaction with public schools of choice and (a) parents’ empowerment, (b) parental involvement, and (c) the congruence between what parents expected of the school when deciding to enroll their child and the actual school program. Findings from a study of school choice in Israel reveal that socioeconomic status is a major factor in understanding the relationships between parent satisfaction and choice.

Markus, Gregory B.; Howard, Jeffrey P. F.; King, David C.

doi: 10.3102/01623737015004410pmid: N/A

To help inform discussion of the educational value of community service, we report results of an experiment in integrating service-learning into a large undergraduate political science course. Students in service-learning sections of the course were significantly more likely than those in the traditional discussion sections to report that they had performed up to their potential in the course, had learned to apply principles from the course to new situations, and had developed a greater awareness of societal problems. Classroom learning and course grades also increased significantly as a result of students’ participation in course-relevant community service. Finally, pre- and postsurvey data revealed significant effects of participation in community service upon students’ personal values and orientations. The experiential learning acquired through service appears to compensate for some pedagogical weaknesses of classroom instruction.

Brandon, Paul R.; Lindberg, Marlene A.; Wang, Zhigang

doi: 10.3102/01623737015004420pmid: N/A

Program decision makers are typically involved in many steps of participatory evaluations, including the specification of program attributes that evaluations address. Program beneficiaries should also participate in this early step, however, because their contributions broaden the scope of evaluations, thereby enhancing the consequential validity of findings. In this article, we discuss an approach for involving beneficiaries in specifying program attributes for evaluations to address. Methods are outlined for sharing influence among program decision makers and beneficiaries, with decision makers retaining the authority to make final decisions. We describe an evaluation in which this approach was applied, present evidence on how the approach enhanced consequential validity, and discuss the constraints on its use.

Walberg, Herbert J.; Niemiec, Richard P.

doi: 10.3102/01623737015004429pmid: N/A

This article explores several validation methods for the identification and dissemination of exemplary educational programs in the nation. It discusses the rationales for methods developed by the Program Effectiveness Panel and its predecessor, the Joint Dissemination Review Panel. Four selected validation methods are analyzed in terms of their comparative advantages and disadvantages. The article ends with recommendations oriented toward the U.S. Department of Education’s clients—educational policymakers and practitioners—and how their needs can be met.

Francis, Kim C.; Kelly, Robert J.; Bell, Martha J.

doi: 10.3102/01623737015004437pmid: N/A

Success in higher education for minorities and disadvantaged students may be more closely linked with their sociopsychological adjustments to an institution than was previously thought. At the same time, the culture of institutions of higher learning may facilitate the assimilation of minority students through an apparatus of services that assists them academically and socially. This article examines the institutional interaction processes in the Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge Program (SEEK) among students, staff, and faculty at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York (CUNY), and explores how assimilation into the institutional subculture may be enhanced. The research paradigm raises questions about how the school setting affects success or failure and how institutions offer their students resources that enable them to overcome the legacies of poverty and attitudes inimical to the culture of learning.