A conceptual perspective and set of principles are offered for the evaluation of special-service programs in public school settings. Special-service program evaluation is seen as a process of obtaining and reporting information on a program's adequacy, process, efficiency, and impact. The evaluation perspective and five evaluation principles set forth serve to guide the evaluation process, enabling the evaluator to (a) accurately identify the information (evaluation) needs of the decision maker(s), (b) design and conduct an evaluation study focused on these needs, and (c) assess the contribution of the evaluation to programmatic decision making.
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