The program evaluator has the job of scrutinizing and discribing an educational and administrative program so that people may work out ways to improve it and/Or judge its quality as is. Program evaluation almost always demands gathering and digesting information about pro- gram status and sharing it with the program's planners, staff or fun- ders. This book deals with the task of describing a program's imple- mentation - how the program looks in operation.

Program Evaluation and Performance Measurement: An Introduction to Practice, Second Edition offers an accessible, practical introduction to program evaluation and performance measurement for public and non-profit organizations, and has been extensively updated since the first edition. Using examples, it covers topics in a detailed fashion, making it a useful guide for students as well as practitioners who are participating in program evaluations or constructing and implementing performance measurement systems. Authors James C. McDavid, Irene Huse, and Laura R. L. Hawthorn guide readers through conducting quantitative and qualitative program evaluations, needs assessments, cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analyses, as well as constructing, implementing and using performance measurement systems. The importance of professional judgment is highlighted throughout the book as an intrinsic feature of evaluation practice.

Abstract: A major task of the program evaluator is to describe how a program looks in operation and whether implementation in practice matches what was planned. Few evaluation reports describe sufficiently those program processes which allow participants to achieve objectives. Skills for describing program implementation and designing measurement instruments for support of such descriptions are presented in this 4th volume of a series on program evaluation. Components of the detailed implementation report include the context and characteristics of the program (setting and participants) and program materials and activities. Data collection methods measuring program implementation involve the use of existing measures or the construction of new ones. Hints on sampling strategies, data summary and analysis, record-keeping, observation systems, and self-reports are given. A final chapter discusses the reliability and validity of implementation measures, factors indicative of their quality.

The "CSE Program Evaluation Kit" is a series of nine books intended to assist people conducting program evaluations. This volume, fifth in the kit, discusses the role and importance of implementation evaluation and presents methods for designing, using, and reporting the results using assessment instruments to describe accurately how a program looks in operation. Step-by-step guides are provided for program records, observations, and self-reports. The following chapters are included: (1) "Assessing Program Implementation: An Overview"; (2) "Initial Planning: Deciding What To Measure"; (3) "Planning for Data Collection"; (4) "Methods for Assessing Program Implementation: Program Records"; (5) "Methods for Assessing Program Implementation: Questionnaires and Interviews"; (6)"Methods for Assessing Program Implementation: Observations"; and (7) "Summarizing, Analyzing, and Reporting Your Data." An appendix contains questions for an implementation evaluation. (Contains 8 tables, 15 figures, and 10 references.) (SLD)