Funding Agency Review Panels.
In the United States, most federal government agencies make use of funding panels—panels of experts in the research area to be funded—to read proposals, discuss them, and make recommendations. Generally, the funding agency has developed criteria for the reviewers and, often, members of the team meet in Washington, DC, or other locations to discuss their reactions and attempt to reach some consensus. But the standards for funding vary from discipline to discipline and with the particular funding emphasis. Nevertheless, in the model of expertise-oriented evaluation, experts are coming together to make a judgment about something. Some funding organizations compose committees whose members have different areas of expertise. Thus, committees to review proposals in education can consist of a mix of educational administrators or poli- cymakers, teachers, and researchers. Likewise, committees that review proposals for community development or action can include research experts in the field as well as community members serving as experts on the particular community and its needs.
Blue-Ribbon Panels. Blue-ribbon panels are typically appointed by a high-level government official and are intended to provide advice, not on funding, but on how government should address a particular issue. The Commission on the Future of Higher Education, which was discussed earlier in this chapter, was appointed by the U.S. Department of Education in 2005, at a time when the
4These actions are somewhat in response to the federal legislation commonly known as No Child Left Behind, but many states had developed standards prior to the legislation.
Chapter 5 • First Approaches: Expertise and Consumer-Oriented Approaches 139
government was concerned with the long-term status of higher education in the United States and needed input from experts in the area. Members of such panels are appointed because of their experience and expertise in the field being studied. They typically are charged with reviewing a particular situation, documenting their observations, and making recommendations for action. Given the visibility of such panels, the acknowledged expertise of panel members is important if the panel’s findings are to be considered credible. At the local level, where ad hoc review panels are frequently used as an evaluative strategy for many endeavors ranging from economic development and environmental policies to school governance, expertise of panel members is no less an issue, even though the re- viewers may be of local or regional repute rather than national renown. Although recommendations of ad hoc panels of experts may have major impact, they might also be ignored, since there is often no formalized body charged with following up on their advice.