An instructional evaluation study in early childhood education

Abstract

Summary The instructional evaluation study presented here used some of the advanced forms of program evaluation to obtain information on the worth, effectiveness, practicality and characteristics of the program. It used a quasi-experimental design in a field setting ( Cook & Campbell, 1979 ) and sophisticated statistical analyses. The analyses indicated that a few, new relevant videotapes need to be developed. These videotapes should be more interesting and briefer and should be more closely related to class content. The use of additional media such as films, slides, photographs, and transparencies should be added as part of the instruction instead of using mostly videotapes for instruction. Assignments such as the practicum, the set of personal and professional goals, the lectures, and readings need to be maintained. However, more meaningful assignments should be substituted for book reports, reaction papers and critiques. This evaluation design has several distinctive characteristics: (1) it Evaluation is an essential component for program effectiveness. An evaluation, like the one in this study, can be an asset to an instructional program. An approximate form of evaluation for an instructional program, which can be used by others, has been described by Saracho (1982) . She recommends the use of group sessions, conferences, observations, staff meetings, and monitoring the program components. The group sessions are composed of a staff member and a small group of students who hold regular sessions to discuss the progress and recommend program modifications. Staff can hold individual conferences with students both to provide help to the student and to acquire student feedback about the program. Staff meetings are scheduled to share and discuss the information they have obtained in this process. Another aspect of this form of evaluation, according to Saracho (1982) , is to appraise all of the components in the program. Each staff member can assume responsibility to evaluate one of the components in the program. Staff can identify major issues of the instructional program which need to be assessed. A variety of evaluation methods can be used to obtain information, such as observations, dialogues, anecdotes, quotations, questionnaires, photographs, samples of students' work, students' logs, audio tapes, videotapes, and films. The program's documents such as the students' personal file, sample of students' work, inventories, the curriculum, lesson plans, faculty meetings' reports, and any other pertinent information can be examined. A faculty member can review the instructor's notes, lesson plans, and classroom experiences; student-instructor conferences and interactions; students' work and any other relevant information. The information, which has been gathered using different methods, is compared to acquire additional evidence, support and verification. For example, the questionnaires may indicate that the videotapes are too long. Other circumstances (e.g., group sessions, student conferences, faculty meetings, observations, dialogues) can be used to verify this information. The staff member analyzes the information by organizing it into a systematic structure, such as information is categorized into hierarchial systems similar to the Piagetian system. The case study approach can be employed in this organization. A report is written and orally presented to the rest of the staff to provide them with sufficient knowledge to make decisions concerning the continuance or modification of the evaluated instructional component.