Toward a Practical Approach to Evaluating Adult Education Programs: An Application of Scriven's Methodology

Abstract

The adult education evaluation model presented here provides a comprehensive yet efficient procedure with which administrators can evaluate adult education programs in a variety of settings. The need for such evaluation is receiving impetus from the accountability movement, the growth of adult education as a field of professional practice, and demands by professional groups of adult educators. The framework of the model is based on Scriven's approach to evaluation, which incorporates many of the strengths of other evaluation prototypes not yet applied to adult education. The adult education evaluation model consists of a series of steps, divided among four stages: (a) predevelopment, (b) establishing objectives, (c) data generation, and (d) evaluation. The steps within the stages are: (a) assess needs, (b) rank needs, (c) define objectives within goals, (d) rank objectives, (e) develop instrumentation and procedures, (f) apply instrumentation, (g) analyze data, (h) compare data to judgment criteria, and (i) determine course of action.