ABSTRACT
Impact evaluation has a strong summative emphasis in that it provides findings from which a judgment of the worth of a program can be made. The Goal-free Approach was also a reaction to a slavish acceptance of the Objectives-based Approach. Commissioners and clients are almost always interested in whether program objectives have been met, and the evaluator would need to go to extremes to ignore information about how the program is meant to operate. The Australian Universities Quality Agency has been established to assure the quality of tertiary education provision through independent audits. A large University-College offered five alternative courses within a one-year preservice teacher education program. The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention leads a major effort in the United States to prevent substance abuse, which has been linked to concerns about increased community violence, rising need for health care, teenage pregnancy and decreased work productivity.
