education

The process of disciplined evaluation permeates all areas of thought and practice Given its many uses, it may seem almost axiomatic to assert that evaluation is not only valuable but essential in any effective system or society. Citizens look to eval- uation for accountability. Policymakers and decision makers call on it and use it Chapter […]

Internal and External Evaluations The adjectives “internal” and “external” distinguish between evaluations conducted by program employees and those conducted by outsiders. An experimental year- round education program in the San Francisco public schools might be evaluated by a member of the school district staff (internal) or by a site-visit team appointed by the California State

A Typology of Evaluation Studies Judgment What to Revise/Change Formative What to Begin, Continue, Expand Summative Needs Assessment How should we adapt the model we are considering? Should we begin a program? Is there sufficient need? Process Is more training of staff needed to deliver the program appropriately? Are sufficient numbers of the target audience

Needs Assessment, Process, and Outcome Evaluations The distinctions between formative and summative evaluation are concerned pri- marily with the kinds of decisions or judgments to be made with the evaluation results. The distinction between the relative emphasis on formative or summative evaluation is an important one to make at the beginning of a study because

Differences between Formative and Summative Evaluation Formative Evaluation Summative Evaluation Use To improve the program To make decisions about the program’s future or adoption Audience Program managers and staff Administrators, policymakers, and/or potential consumers or funding agencies By Whom Often internal evaluators supported by external evaluators Often external evaluators, supported by internal evaluators Major Characteristics

Some Basic Types of Evaluation Formative and Summative Evaluation Scriven (1967) first distinguished between the formative and summative roles of evaluation. Since then, the terms have become almost universally accepted in the field. In practice, distinctions between these two types of evaluation may blur somewhat, but the terms serve an important function in highlighting the

Uses and Objects of Evaluation At this point, it might be useful to describe some of the ways in which evaluation can be used. An exhaustive list would be prohibitive, filling the rest of this book and more. Here we provide only a few representative examples of uses made of evaluation in selected sectors of

Roles and Activities of Professional Evaluators Evaluators as practitioners play numerous roles and conduct multiple activities in performing evaluation. Just as discussions on the purposes of evaluation help us to better understand what we mean by determining merit and worth, a brief dis- cussion of the roles and activities pursued by evaluators will acquaint the

The Purposes of Evaluation Consistent with our earlier definition of evaluation, we believe that the primary purpose of evaluation is to render judgments about the value of whatever is being evaluated. This view parallels that of Scriven (1967), who was one of the earliest to outline the purpose of formal evaluation. In his seminal paper,

Differences in Evaluation and Research It is important to distinguish between evaluation and research, because these dif- ferences help us to understand the distinctive nature of evaluation. While some methods of evaluation emerged from social science research traditions, there are important distinctions between evaluation and research. One of those distinctions is purpose. Research and evaluation