The world has experienced rapid changes, leading to pressing issues such as environmental degradation, social inequality, and resource depletion. As a transdisciplinary field, evaluation has emerged as a crucial tool in addressing these challenges and promoting systemic change. However, concerns have been raised regarding the field's capacity to…

Efforts to promote professionalism in evaluation, whether through certification, credentialing, or other path, are not new, but there is a new push to adopt sets of essential evaluator competencies, both in the United States and globally, that are intended to advance professionalism of the field. This emphasis on professionalism is relevant to the…

This paper addresses the issue of the knowledge gap between evaluators and the entity being evaluated: the dilemma of the knowledge of professional evaluators vs. the in-depth knowledge of the evaluated subjects. In order to optimize evaluative outcomes, the author suggests an approach based on ideas borrowed from the science of cybernetics as a…

This study is a content analysis of selected federally funded leadership preparation program evaluation proposals for the 2008, 2009, and 2010 School Leadership Program grants. The United States Department of Education (USDE) began awarding funding in 2002 to develop and implement preparation programs for aspiring and current assistant principals…

Assessment in aesthetic fields presents a myriad of challenges in the higher education environment. This paper uses a metaphorical representation to explore the role of assessors within aesthetic assessment settings in higher education. It begins with a discussion of aesthetic fields and an exploration of the role of assessment in this area.…

Background: Those involved in school health education programs generally believe that health-education programs can play an important role in helping young people make positive health decisions. Thus, it is to document the effects of such programs through rigorous evaluations published in peer-reviewed journals. Methods: This paper helps the…

This study discusses three evaluations completed in a large suburban school district, each of which involved stakeholders purposefully throughout the inquiry process. The reflective case narrative addresses three questions: (1) To what extent or in which parts of the evaluations were stakeholders involved? (2) What actions did the evaluator(s)…

In the summer of 2011, the Tennessee Department of Education contracted with the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) to provide a four-day training for all evaluators across the state. NIET trained more than 5,000 evaluators intensively in the state model (districts using alternative instruments delivered their own training).…

In this collection, evaluation theorists and practitioners consider evaluator role and identity in evaluation theory, practice, and society. The chapters are: (1) "Three Frameworks for Considering Evaluator Role" (Jean A. King and Laurie Stevahn); (2) "Toward Better Understanding of Alternative Evaluator Roles" (Melvin M. Mark); (3) "Making (More)…

Discusses ethical challenges faced by evaluators, especially those who have gotten into problems while conducting the evaluation. Introduces the other articles in this theme section. (SLD)

Challenges the assumption that evaluation should aim for fostering deliberative democracy. A modest effort by an evaluator to contribute to deliberative democracy is defensible, but vigorous political advocacy violates social expectation. (Author/SLD)

Whether there can be professional reasons for turning down an evaluation contract is explored. Considering how evaluations can promote either guild maintenance interests or societal improvement interests illuminates several dilemmas in the proper conduct of evaluation and suggests the need for greater explicit attention to what it means for the…

Although the need for evaluation of prevention programs is clear, the implementation of evaluation, particularly for large, complex projects with multiple investigators, poses numerous challenges. Program evaluators in these circumstances do not have the same degree of control as, say, experimental psychologists and must find ways to obtain data…

Values and beliefs underlying assumptions concerning the independent evaluations of persons and programs involved in the educational process are discussed. Particular emphasis is placed on M. Scriven's treatise on bias in evaluation (1976). Works by E. R. House, R. E. Stake, L. Stenhouse, M. Parlett and D. Hamilton, and D. L. Stufflebeam are also…

Outlines a scenario in which an evaluator wants to ask questions of teenagers that may pose ethical problems, or may be perceived as posing such problems. The hypothetical situation is the evaluation of a life skills program aimed at reducing the teen birth rate. (SLD)