Footprints: Strategies for Non-Traditional Program Evaluation

Papers in this collection explore alternative and nontraditional approaches to evaluation. They provide options, speculations, and propositions that affect each thinker's ideas on how to trace the impact of National Science Foundation-supported programs. Organized around a central theme of footprints as evidence of a program's impact, the papers include: (1) "The Use of Science and Mathematics Education Indicators and Studies: A Briefing" (Robert F. Boruch and Erling Boe); (2) "Searching Near, Far, and Wide: A Plan for Evaluation" (Sylvia T. Johnson); (3) "New Methods for Evaluating Programs in NSF's Division of Research, Evaluation, and Dissemination" (Robert K. Yin with commentary by Valena White Plisko, David Jenness, and Malcom Phelps); (4) "Considerations for the Evaluation of the National Science Foundation Programs" (Richard T. Hezel); (5) "Communicating the Value of the National Science Foundation's Contributions to Research and Innovative Technical Applications for Mathematics and Science Education" (Norman L. Webb); (6) "Footprints on Surfaces: A Nontraditional Approach to Evaluation of National Science Foundation Programs" (M. Christine Dwyer with commentary by Robert Mac West and Senta Raizen); (7) "Conceptual Underpinnings for Program Evaluation of Major Public Importance: Collaborative Stakeholder Involvement" (Zoe A. Barley and Mark Jenness); (8) "The Virtual Reality of Systemic Effects of NSF Programming on Education: Its Profession, Practice, Research, and Institutions" (Robert E. Stake with commentary by Eleanor Chelimsky and David B. Rymph); (9) "Overview" (Michael Scriven); and (10) "Footprints: A Search for New Strategies for Evaluating EHR [Education and Human Resources] Programs" (Laure Sharp and Joy Frechtling). References follow each paper. (SLD)