In participatory evaluations of K-12 programs, evaluators develop school faculty's and administrators' evaluation capacity by training them to conduct evaluation tasks and providing consultation while the tasks are conducted. A strong case can be made that the capacity building in these evaluations can be examined using a Vygotskian approach. We…

Examines relationships among three principal elements of educational accountability: (1) assessment of achievement; (2) collection of educational indicators; and (3) setting of educational policy. Uses a Venn diagram to portray interactions among the three elements and emphasizes the importance of understanding value perspectives in…

Evaluated the Language Arts program in the primary division of a large urban school district (48 schools) using multiple sources of data, including interviews with 12 principals and 12 teacher librarians, observations in 56 classes, and surveys completed by 261 students, 194 parents, and 166 teachers. Evidence reveals limitations in the planning…