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Evaluation to Go: Problems and Solutions of Consulting With Time Constraints
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| Presenter(s):
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| Steven Middleton,
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale,
scmidd@siu.edu
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| Joel Nadler,
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale,
jnadler@siu.edu
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| Nicole Cundiff,
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale,
karim@siu.edu
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| Abstract:
Applied Research Consultants, a student run consulting firm, was contracted to evaluate Southern Illinois University Carbondale's main website using quantitative and qualitative methods. The purpose of the evaluation was to gather a quick understanding of what the website users found useful and appealing about the website. This was preformed in order to make an informed decision about how best to develop a new website design for the university. This study required a quick turn around from the development of an online survey to the finished report, due to time constrains placed on the final decision. The evaluators had to overcome a poor response rate that restricted the interpretation of the quantitative results. Because of this problem, qualitative methods were focused on to help provide the necessary information desired by the client. Difficulties and solutions dealing with evaluation under time constraints will be discussed.
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Evaluation for Educational Accountability: Local Impact of No Child Left Behind
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| Presenter(s):
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| Linda Mabry,
Washington State University, Vancouver,
mabryl@vancouver.wsu.edu
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| Abstract:
In this paper, I propose to report findings from four years of an ongoing evaluation of the local effects of the "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB, 2001) federal legislation. Sited in two school districts with relatively high scores on state tests, data document increasing classroom test preparation practices and district administrators' concerns and predictions of adjustments to the law's requirements. Conflicts regarding requirements and teachers' personal philosophies and understandings of best practice and child development were universal in the first two years but, in the third, teachers in one district began to indicate positive curricular outcomes. Data were analyzed in terms of Knapp's (1997) four levels of educational reform; Bronfenbrenner's (1979) stages of ecological analysis, with emphasis on working relationships in the exosystem; and three theories of change articulated in the literature of educational reform and accountability (NRC, 1999; Marion & Gong, 2003; Mabry, Poole, Redmond, and Schultz, 2003).
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