Vocational Education Outcomes: Perspective for Evaluation. Research and Development Series No. 163

Overview & Synopsis

As part of a project designed to identify appropriate and feasible methods of evaluating vocational education, this essay provides a perspective for evaluating vocational education in terms of outcomes. The first of four sections provides a rationale for studying educational outcomes. Section 2 focuses on the nature and meaning of outcomes and the range and diversity of vocational education outcomes, and outlines an approach to outcomes evaluation within the general framework of vocational education evaluation. In addition, this section provides a list of thirty questions concerning possible outcomes of vocational education which illustrates the broad and diverse range of possible outcomes. Among the key issues identified in section 3 in the area of outcomes evaluation were (1) the definition of vocational education; (2) the specification of vocational programs as educational treatments; and (3) sources and uses of evaluative criteria and experimental controls, and the use of comparison groups in evaluating vocational education programs with respect to specified outcomes. The final section suggests an agenda for improving outcome evaluation. (LRA)