Summary: The Veterans Administration's (VA) Educational Assistance program was evaluated in an effort to determine the effectiveness of major Federal education programs. As of June 1978, the VA had not formulated standards to be used in measuring and evaluating the program on a continuing basis. The failure to issue VA evaluation regulations in a timely manner has had a negative impact on program managers' commitment to ongoing evaluation efforts. The VA determination of Educational Assistance program objectives was not finalized until several months after the evaluation was completed. This effectively precluded any comprehensive evaluation of program results or impact. VA evaluators were not satisfied with program managers' objectives because they were "activity" rather than "results or impact" oriented and were not quantified. It appears that program officials plan to continue monitoring program success in terms of numbers of participants rather than quantitatively or qualitatively measuring program results or impact on needs of participants. The VA has an obligation to account to the Congress and the public not only in terms of resources expended and persons served but also in terms of how well the programs are meeting the needs of intended beneficiaries. The VA did not routinely collect data on or monitor the completion or employment status of its beneficiaries and could not determine whether the substantial public investment in education programs was producing the desired end results. The Educational Assistance program evaluation fell short of meeting congressional intent in that it did not include an assessment of the effectiveness or impact of VA education programs.
