Evaluation and program planning
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Over the past 10 years, increasing attention has been paid to the development and implementation of 'evidence-based' practices or EBPs. In 1998, the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine began drawing attention to the discrepancy between research findings and practice patterns in the treatment of substance abuse. The community coalition described in this study was developed to create a partnership between substance abuse treatment providers, policy makers, university-based researchers, and consumers to examine treatment advances and evaluate their possible application in local community settings. ⋯ The questions addressed at each stage of the assessment varied, but collectively all methods formed the basis for consensus-building for a change in practice in substance abuse treatment. The results of the needs assessment were further refined and influenced the development and implementation of two evidence-based practices (EBPs) within multiple agencies. Implications for using a community needs assessment to highlight coalition building and identify and adopting EBPs are discussed.
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The Campbellian validity model and the traditional top-down approach to validity have had a profound influence on research and evaluation. That model includes the concepts of internal and external validity and within that model, the preeminence of internal validity as demonstrated in the top-down approach. Evaluators and researchers have, however, increasingly recognized that in an evaluation, the over-emphasis on internal validity reduces that evaluation's usefulness and contributes to the gulf between academic and practical communities regarding interventions. ⋯ This approach better reflects stakeholders' evaluation views and concerns, makes external validity workable, and becomes therefore a preferable alternative for evaluation of health promotion/social betterment programs. The integrative validity model and the bottom-up approach enable evaluators to meet scientific and practical requirements, facilitate in advancing external validity, and gain a new perspective on methods. The new perspective also furnishes a balanced view of credible evidence, and offers an alternative perspective for funding.
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Evaluation capacity building (ECB) is seldom mentioned in the environmental education (EE) literature, but as demonstrated by the lack and poor quality of EE evaluations, is much needed. This article focuses on an online course, Applied Environmental Education Program Evaluation (AEEPE), which provides nonformal educators with an understanding of how evaluation can be used to improve their EE programs. ⋯ While the course equips environmental educators with the skills necessary to design and implement basic evaluations, there is less certainty that the course contributes to generating demand for evaluation within organizations and the profession. Therefore the authors call on national organizations and associations for help with increasing the demand for ECB in the EE community.
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Environmental education organizations can do more to either institute evaluation or improve the quality of their evaluation. In an effort to help evaluators bridge the gap between the potential for high quality evaluation systems to improve environmental education, and the low level of evaluation in actual practice, we reviewed recent environmental education literature to reveal the challenges and opportunities for evaluating environmental education programs. The literature review identified strategies for confronting the challenges in environmental education evaluation, as well as notable opportunities for increasing the quality of evaluation in environmental education.
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The articles in this special issue cover a range of practices in environmental education evaluation, from program evaluations to training and organizational impact. This article reflects on this collection and offers six recommendations on three broad themes that the issue's authors identify as shortcomings or opportunities for change: capacity building, program theory, and learning organizations.