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This paper reviews a single, large-scale evaluation of a long-term, aid-financed program in some practical subjects in Kenyan secondary schools. The analysis presented is a meta-evaluation, an evaluation of an evaluation, undertaken by two of the authors of the evaluation. A brief account of the evaluation project is first provided. This is followed by an attempt to contextualize the evaluation project within the field of evaluation in the social sciences through an examination of the project's design, approach, and techniques. Finally, some questions are raised about the notion of formal evaluation, derived from mainly developed country environments, as it may apply in policy making in Third World countries. (YLB)

To establish a definition of costs in education, a "concept map" is established to which inevitable questions of inclusion and exclusion can be addressed. A specific case, namely the costs of practical/vocational subjects, is then presented. It also includes a profile of benefits, since with regard to vocational education, much more than with other curriculum subjects, the issue of whether it is at all possible to discuss costs without reference to putative benefits demands consideration. The second part of the paper aims to obtain guidance from the published literature on the costs and benefits of practical/vocational subjects relative to other curricula. This research include studies on the direct recurrent expenditures incurred by society, a study on costs in British further education, a cost-benefit analysis of vocational education in New York City high schools, a comparison of costs of vocational and comprehensive secondary education and the labor market success of the two types of schools, a study of the differential costs of curricula in junior colleges, studies of the costs of vocational education in Thailand, a study of cost structures of secondary schooling in Tanzania and Colombia, and the Swedish International Development Authority study of practical subjects. Five conclusions regarding costing in education in general and costing of vocational subjects in particular are offered. (YLB)