A trio of evaluation and assessment models from pre ICT innovations: Lessons from the past

Abstract

Three major evaluations of innovative projects designed and implemented in the US during the 1960s and 1970s provide models for the design and analysis of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) projects. Large in scope, sophisticated in design and explicit in reporting, the three evaluations were: an analysis of major factors in "change agent" projects conducted by the Rand Corporation; an evaluation of Follow Through, a program to continue supporting "disadvantaged" children in elementary school; and a multi-year evaluation of the Comprehensive School Mathematics Program, a multi-grade project designed to change mathematics instruction and, at the same time, develop suitable assessment tools. Each of the studies provides a model of how ICT projects, both those in place and those in the design stages, may be evaluated in order that important questions -- "What happened?" and "Why?" and "To what effect?" -- can be answered. The three evaluations stress the importance of defining project characteristics, working from clearly defined practices, assessing fidelity of implementation, studying the multiple reactions of all the stakeholders, and conducting assessments of pupil progress at appropriate times and with appropriate measures. The models can serve ICT educators as guidelines as they look for complex, meaningful and educationally sound ways of determining the impact of ICT on all stakeholders.