Features of Program Evaluation in Special Education

Abstract

Program evaluation provides a powerful tool for meeting the formative and summative evaluation needs of school programs. Although a number of program evaluation approaches for special education programs have been cited in the literature, there is little evidence to show how far school districts have gone beyond compliance monitoring in their efforts to evaluate special education programs. This article presents the results of a national survey of 145 districts on the topic of program evaluation in special education to ascertain whether or not districts have taken a proactive, systematic approach to evaluating their special education programs. A number of features associated with program evaluation were explored, specifically, (a) preplanning, (b) who evaluates special education programs, (c) the focus of evaluation activities, (d) methods for obtaining evaluative information, (e) criteria for judging program effectiveness, and (f) the perceived benefits of the evaluation process.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Beer, V. , & Bloomer, A.C. (1986). Levels of evaluation. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 8, 335–345.

Bloom, B.S. , Hastings, T.J. , & Madaus, G.F. (1971). Handbook on formative and summative evaluation of student learning. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Borich, G.D. , & Nance, D.D. (1987). Evaluating special education programs: Shifting the professional mandate from process to outcome. Remedial and Special Education, 8(3), 7–16.

Edmonds, R. (1979). Effective schools for the urban poor. Educational Leadership, 37, 15–24.

Edmonds, R. (1981). Making public schools effective. Social Policy, 12, 56–60.

Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, November, 1975.

Field, S.L. , & Hill, S.D. (1988). Contextual appraisal: A framework for meaningful evaluation of special education programs. Remedial and Special Education, 9(4), 22–30.

Grosenick, J.K. , George, N.L. , & George, M.P. (1988). The availability of program descriptions among programs for seriously emotionally disturbed students. Behavioral Disorders, 13, 108–115.

Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation . (1981). Standards for evaluations of educational programs, projects and materials. New York: McGraw-Hill.

10.

Kerins, C.T. (1973). Accountability and the state. In E.R. House (Ed.), School evaluation: The politics and process (pp. 74–79). Berkeley, CA: McCutchan.

11.

Knezevich, S.J. (1984). Administration of public education. New York: Harper & Row.

12.

Madaus, G.F. , Airasian, P.W. , & Kellaghan, T. (1980). School effectiveness: A reassessment of evidence. New York: McGraw-Hill.

13.

Matuszek, P. (1978). Designing internally-based program evaluations in school settings. Journal of School Psychology, 16, 346–355.

14.

Morris, L.L. , & Fitz-Gibbon, C.T. (1978). Evaluator's handbook. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

15.

Phi Delta Kappa National Study Committee on Evaluation . (1971). Educational evaluation and decision making. Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Inc.

16.

Purkey, S.C. , & Smith, M. (1983). Effective schools: A review. Elementary School Journal, 83, 427–452.

17.

Rosenholtz, S.J. (1989). Workplace conditions that affect teacher quality and commitment: Implications for teacher induction programs. The Elementary School Journal, 89, 421–439.

18.

SAS Institute Inc. (1985). SAS user's guide: Statistics (Version 5 ed.). Cary, NC: Author.

19.

Selznick, P. (1957). Leadership in administration: A sociological interpretation. NY: Harper & Row.

20.

Stake, R.E. (1967). The countenance of educational evaluation. Teachers College Record, 68, 523–540.

21.

Stufflebeam, D.L. (1981). Metaevaluation: Concepts standards and uses. In R.A. Berk (Ed.), Educational evaluation methodology: The state of the art. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

22.

Sulzer-Asaroff, B. , & Mayer, G.R. (1977). Applying behavior analysis procedures with children and youth. New York: Holt.

23.

U.S. Bureau of the Census . (1982). 1980 census of population: Vol. 1, Characteristics of the population (Appendix A: Area Classifications). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce.

24.

U.S. Government Printing Office . (1985). Seventh annual report to Congress on the implementation of the Education of the Handicapped Act. Washington, DC: Author.