The purpose of this study was to correct certain deficiencies in performance assessment as currently practiced in social service programs by providing measurement and evaluation specialists with guidelines for designing and developing sound performance assessment instruments tailored to the requirements of social service program evaluations. Such guidelines serve two purposes--as a process for planning and developing consumer performance assessment systems and as a set of criteria for evaluating the utility of performance assessments currently employed in social service programs. / Two activities were conducted to meet these purposes. First, a set of design and construction consumer performance assessment guidelines that embodied the characteristics of the assessment process in social service agencies were developed. As part of the development process, guidelines were revised on the basis of a formative evaluation conducted with experienced evaluators. Second, the consumer performance assessment guidelines were field tested on an assessment instrument used by a state agency. These guidelines were judged by agency personnel to be a valid framework for evaluating existing performance assessment instruments and for developing more valid performance assessments applicable to social service contexts. / The conceptualization of the guidelines was based on a grounded theory approach to the assessment development process and a review of the characteristics and assumptions of performance assessments conducted in educational and social service settings. These field based analyses revealed major differences between the education and social service context with respect to the contextual components of the assessment process, the roles of participants in the testing process, and the utility of assessment results. A review of current testing and program evaluation standards also pointed to the need for consumer performance assessment guidelines for social service programs. / A professionally defined basis for judging performance assessment instruments from the consumer's perspective has not been available to evaluators. By providing a concise set of professional guidelines, this study constitutes a first step in filling that void. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-03, Section: A, page: 0784. / Major Professor: Garrett Foster. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_76608 |
| Contributors | Schrader, Linda Bethe., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 130 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
Page generated in 0.0019 seconds