The chapter explores critical roles of internal evaluators in contemporary organizational settings. The need is highlighted for an expanded, reconfigured, unorthodox set of roles and styles of work to meet the needs of the emerging learning organizations effectively. A discussion of major categories of internal evaluator roles emerged from the…

This chapter explores how the structure of large complex organizations such as Cooperative Extension affects their ability to support internal evaluation of their programs and activities. Following a literature review of organizational structure and its relation to internal evaluation capacity, the chapter presents the results of interviews with…

A district evaluator in a large Texas district examines new challenges arising since implementation of No Child Left Behind, relating to (1) navigating competing requirements in state and federal accountability systems; (2) evaluating effectiveness of sanctions districts are required to address; (3) using scientifically based research (SBR) to…

Decision makers in nonformal education programs can maximize the utility of their evaluation investment and improve program effectiveness by being more mindful of the potential uses of evaluation information. Evaluation use is a multifaceted construct that may include, but is not limited to, the implementation of evaluation recommendations or…

This final chapter summarizes the areas of consensus in the debate on method choice, including considering the nature of the primary evaluation questions, the nature of the phenomenon being evaluated, the constraints on the evaluation, and ethical issues. Pragmatic suggestions based on these areas as well as areas still in contention are offered.…

This case study of one middle school focuses on improving teachers' skills in data-driven decision making through analysis of student work and their own professional practice. The expectation that schools will make adequate yearly progress has pushed evaluation practice down to the teacher level, where teachers are asked to analyze and…

The seven chapters of this special issue explore problems in how to better understand the reasoning process that is used to establish evaluative conclusions. The many unanswered questions about reasoning should stimulate further investigation of the meaning of sound evaluative reasoning. (SLD)