An evaluation model for innovative individualized programs

Program evaluation may be described as a tri-level process. At one level there is diagnostic and developmental evaluation of the learners. At a second level, there is evaluation of the program against its own objectives. And, at a third level, there is evaluation of the program as compared against a criterion program. Traditional programs can be evaluated successfully at each of three levels. However, innovative programs present obstacles to effective evaluation at two levels: (I) learner diagnostic and development; (II) and, (III) relative program effectiveness. It is only at Level II, where the innovative program is judged against its own objectives, that traditional evaluation methods are productive.The purpose of this paper is to describe the tri-level process model used in the evaluation of an innovative secondary program and to discuss the deficits of the model as suggested by the case study reported here. In addition, implications for the evaluation of innovative programs is discussed against a background of the Tyler (1971) model for instructional evaluation.