education

Which of the recent trends we described do you think will have the most impact on evaluation in the future? Why? Major Concepts and Theories 1. Commissions to report on specific problems, objective tests, and accreditations were among the early forms of evaluation. During the Depression, social scientists began working for the federal government to […]

Individual, important evaluation studies will continue to take place. Individual, important evaluation studies will continue to take place. But evaluators have moved from a comparatively narrow focus on methodological issues in the early years to today’s broader consideration of the role of evaluation in organizations. Evaluators have recognized that they need to know more about

Considering Organizational Learning and Evaluations Larger Potential Impacts A related trend that has influenced evaluation in the early part of the twenty-first cen- tury is a discussion of the role of evaluation in organizational learning. People in many different, but related, fields—public management, adult learning, workplace learning, organizational management and change, educational administration, leadership, and

Outcomes Measurement in the Nonprofit Arena. Schools and other public orga- nizations have not been the only ones to move to an outcomes orientation in recent years. Nonprofit organizations, as well, now focus their evaluation activities on assessing and reporting outcomes. As mentioned earlier, United Way influences much of the evaluation in the nonprofit sector.

A Focus on Measuring Outcomes and Impact Another major trend that emerged in evaluation during the 1990s is the empha- sis on measuring outcomes and using evaluation for purposes of accountability. The United States began evaluation in what Ray Rist and his colleagues (1999) called “first wave” evaluation with a focus on innovative experimentation and

Nonevaluators Take on Internal Evaluation Responsibilities Another change in evaluation in recent years concerns the number and types of people carrying out evaluation-related tasks. As evaluation expanded, many people— managers, supervisors, and other program professionals—began having responsi- bilities for evaluation as one part of their job. As noted in this history, evaluation has often been

1990–The Present: History and Current Trends Today, evaluations are conducted in many different settings using a variety of approaches and methods. Evaluation is well established as a profession and is, as LaVelle and Donaldson remark, “growing in leaps and bounds” in recent years (2010, p. 9). Many jobs are available. Although many evaluators continue to

Evaluation Becomes a Profession: 1973–1989 This period can be characterized as one of increasing development of a distinct field of evaluation through the growth in approaches, programs to train students to become evaluators, and professional associations. At the same time, the sites of evaluation began to diversify dramatically, with the federal government playing a less

The Emergence of Modern Program Evaluation: 1964–1972 Although the developments discussed so far were not sufficient in themselves to create a strong and enduring evaluation movement, each helped create a context that would give birth to such a movement. Conditions were right for accelerated conceptual and methodological development in evaluation, and the catalyst was found

Early Forms of Formal Evaluation The History and Influence of Evaluation in Society Early Forms of Formal Evaluation Some evaluator-humorists have mused that formal evaluation was probably at work in determining which evasion skills taught in Sabertooth Avoidance 101 had the Chapter 2 • Origins and Current Trends in Modern Program Evaluation 39 greatest survival