depos-us

8-1726

The National Advisory Council on Education Professions
Development was established by Public Law 90-35 in June of 1967.
Members are appointed by the President. The Council is charged with
the review of the Education Professions Development Act and of all
other Federal programs for the training and development of

educational personnel. Reports of findings and recommendations are
made to the President and to the Congress.

Members of the Council* submitting this report are:

Sharing the benefiet and burden of evaluation.....18

Information overload.

.18

Dominance and diversity in evaluation research....19

Research quality and "outside" contracting........20

PREFACE

Increasingly questions are being raised about a wide range of issues concerning Federal roles in education, major pieces of educational legislation and particular programs created by this legislation. Decisions on these matters can be made in two ways:

--on the basis of political power, partisanship,
or the prestige of advocates of a particular
position, or

--on the basis of independent, objective search
for evidence that establishes the merits of
particular positions.

Providing independent, objective evidence is the burden of the evaluation research activities carried out by the Federal Government. Integrity and intelligence in the use of this evidence is as essential as the validity of the evidence provided. The importance of the decisions concerning public policy questions in education defines the importance of evaluation.

Evaluation is essential to educational policy as indicated in this Council's report specifying essential elements of educational policy, Windows to the Bureaucracy. Hence, evaluation itself must be thought through and governed by general policy and by policies of effective means formulated to ensure that larger goals are achieved with the highest degree of effectiveness and the greatest efficiency in use of resources. Thus policies, systems and uses of evaluation must be continually examined.

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The authors of this report Council staff members William Foskett and Joseph Young wish to thank the many evaluation researchers and program administrators whose comments and criticism have assisted the authors in their inquiries over the last several years. The Council and the authors are especially grateful for the several hundred thoughtful responses they received to their preliminary report, Evaluation of Education: In Need of Examination, from educators and evaluators all over the country, as well as from members of Congress.

June 1, 1974
Washington, D. C.