Evaluating School Programs: An Educator's Guide

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!

James R. Sanders is Professor of Education and Associate Director of the Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University. He received his master′s degree in educational research from Bucknell University and his PhD in educational research and evaluation from the University of Colorado. He has served as a visiting professor at St. Patrick′s College (in Dublin, Ireland), Utah State University, and the University of British Columbia. He is coauthor of Educational Evaluation:Theory and Practice (1973), Practices and Problems in Competency-Based Measurement (1979), Educational Evaluation: Alternative Approaches and Practical Guidelines (1987), and Program Evaluation (2004). He is author or coauthor of numerous articles, monographs, and technical reports in the area of program evaluation. His articles have appeared in Review of Educational Research, Educational Researcher, Educational and Psychological Measurement, Journal of Educational Psychology, Journal of School Psychology, New Directions for Program Evaluation, Evaluation News, Educational Technology, Journal of Research and Development in Education, Educational Measurement, and American Journal of Evaluation.           
James R. Sanders has served as director or codirector of training institutes in evaluation for the American Educational Research Association, the American Evaluation Association, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and the Western Michigan University Evaluation Center. He has served as a member of the board of directors for the Evaluation Network and the American Evaluation Association and on standing committees for the American Educational Research Association, the National Council on Measurement in Education, the National Science Foundation, Phi Delta Kappa, Independent Sector, and the United Way of America. He has directed research and evaluation projects funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Education, National Science Foundation, and several state agencies. He has consulted with numerous school districts, private industries, instructional businesses, government agencies, research and development corporations, community agencies, and major universities. From 1988 to 1998, he served as chair of the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation, a coalition of 16 professional organizations concerned with the quality of evaluations done in education. He was elected by the American Evaluation Association to serve as President-elect in 2000, President in 2001, and Past President in 2002.

Carolyn D. Sullins is a Senior Research Associate at The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University.  She is directing the evaluations of an after school program, a behavior management program, and a parent information resource center.  She was the project manager for the Cleveland Community Schools evaluation and has contributed to evaluations of charter schools in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.  In addition, she was the project director for the evaluation of a university alcohol risk-reduction project.  Recently she has taught several graduate-level courses in program evaluation, including co-teaching with Dr. Daniel Stufflebeam an advanced seminar in evaluation models.            
Dr. Sullins earned her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology in 2000, specializing in quantitative and evaluative research methods, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she also completed her Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology in 1996.  Her master’s thesis, portions of which are published in Psychology of Women Quarterly, involved designing, administering, and analyzing a survey of therapists’ practices.  Her doctoral dissertation concerned an empowerment evaluation of a consumer-run mental health drop-in center.  It involved mental health consumers in the design, implementation, interpretation, and use of an evaluation of their own center.  This project, which generated five national presentations and an article in American Journal of Evaluation, led to new conceptualizations of particular evaluation models and applications.