By Joan C. Dessinger and James L. MoseleyThis much-needed book offers trainers, consultants, evaluation professionals, and human resource executives and practitioners a hands-on resource for understanding and applying the proven principles of confirmative evaluation. Confirmative evaluation is a marriage of evaluation and continuous improvement. Unlike other types of evaluation which are used during the design of a learning program or applied immediately after conducting a program, confirmative evaluation follows several months after the program is implemented. It tests the endurance of outcomes, the return on investment, and establishes the effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and value of the training over time.

Read more on CONFIRMATIVE EVALUATION: STRATEGIES FOR VALUING CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT…

The Government needs to start now to build support and understanding of the issue of national road pricing if it is to have any chance of success in the future, according to the RAC Foundation today. It will tell a seminar in London that the policy is in danger of being seen by motorists as just another way of raising revenue rather than a real attempt to tackle congestion.David Holmes, chairman of the Foundation, will speak at an event organised by the Institute for Public Policy Research and will tell delegates that motorists’ views on road pricing will depend heavily on how they and their families will be affected. He will say, though, that national road pricing is still ten years off and that detailed effects cannot be predicted now, so the potential benefits of the idea have to be spelled out so people can see that the objectives are worth pursuing.

Read more on FOUNDATION SETS OUT PLAN TO WIN SUPPORT FOR ROAD PRICING…

Partnership working by local public bodies has led to real benefits for the people who use their services, according to a report published today by the Audit Commission. But the report says those benefits are undermined too often by blurred lines of accountability leading to poor value for money.Today’s report, “Governing Partnerships: Bridging the Accountability Gap” calls on public organisations to look hard at partnerships in which they are involved to ensure that they are delivering. It says partnerships involving local authorities, primary care trusts and the police, are now a significant feature of public service delivery. The most recent figures put the number of such arrangements at around 5,500 across the United Kingdom, accounting for about four billion pounds of public expenditure.

Read more on COMMISSION SAYS BENEFITS OF PARTNERSHIP WORKING ARE BEING UNDERMINED…