The act of valuing in an evaluation may be perceived in different ways. We consider the multiple theoretic perspectives that govern an evaluator's behavior and present a typology of evaluator valuing roles. Within this typology we describe three ways in which value judgments are typically reached--by stakeholders alone, stakeholders and evaluators…

In 1999, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded funds to the Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University to conduct an external evaluation of the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program. ATE, a federally mandated program designed to increase the number and quality of skilled technicians in the U.S. workforce, has funded over 346…

Five knowledge-for-action theories are summarized and compared in this chapter for their evaluation implications: knowledge utilization, diffusion, implementation, transfer, and translation. Usually dispersed across multiple fields and disciplines, these theories are gathered here for a common focus on knowledge and change. Knowledge in some form…

A team at the University of Minnesota conducted the Collaboratives for Excellence in Teacher Preparation (CETP) core evaluation between 1999 and 2004. The purpose of the CETP core evaluation was to achieve consensus among CETP project leaders and project evaluators on evaluation questions; to develop, pilot, and field test evaluation instruments…

In 1995, the National Science Foundation (NSF) contracted with principal investigator Iris Weiss and an evaluation team at Horizon Research, Inc. (HRI) to conduct a national evaluation of the Local Systemic Change for Teacher Enhancement program (LSC). HRI conducted the core evaluation under a $6.25 million contract with NSF. This program…

Programs and policies invariably contain new knowledge. Theories about knowledge utilization, diffusion, implementation, transfer, and knowledge translation theories illuminate some mechanisms of change processes. But more often than not, when it comes to understanding patterns about change processes, "the foreground" is privileged more…

Internal evaluators encounter risks but also significant opportunities to strengthen organizational and professional ethics. Potential contributions depend, in part, on the conjunction of ethics and evaluation in the role of the internal evaluator as the person specially commissioned to investigate value and render judgment based on evidence…

Depth, resonance, and shadow are added to how the expertise of managing evaluation could be grasped and understood. Returning to the notion of "competency" (Stevahn, King, Ghere, & Minnema, 2005), this is contrasted more deeply with Dreyfus and Dreyfus's (2004) conception of expert and to its use in nursing by Benner (2004; Benner, Tanner, &…

Managing evaluation studies, evaluators and other workers, and evaluation units is an omnipresent but almost invisible practice little studied and written about. The authors ask whether this should change and how. It is necessary to illuminate this practice before deciding, making distinctions among management, manager, and managing, the first a…

On the basis of a multistage exploration of evaluation texts, electronic searches, and nominations from the field and from managing social science, the author concludes there is little research literature on managing evaluation studies, evaluators and other workers, and evaluation units. The discussion explores what this limited literature tells…

This chapter describes the author's experience and insights as the chief of evaluation for public diplomacy at the U.S. Department of State, and as a consultant assisting federal agencies in a multitude of evaluation activities relating what helps and hinders internal evaluation functions. The article discusses the challenges faced by the internal…

This chapter features a recent conversation with Dr. Arnold J. Love, a long-time proponent of internal evaluation and one of the most cited internal evaluation authors. In 1983, Love edited the first issue of "New Directions for Program Evaluation" on the topic of internal evaluation. He is the author of the book "Internal…

Here the essentials of the expertise of managing are presented as orientation toward (ethos, stance, and gaze), knowledge about, and knowledge how-to ("know-how"). These are grounded to specific content, summarized, and then connected to a typology of managing evaluation. The orienting questions for the field are reviewed to reveal what it means…

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…

Donald W. Compton, the first director of evaluation services at the National Home Office (Atlanta) of the American Cancer Society, tells the story of building the unit in conditions of high demand and a limited budget. Along the way, evaluation was brought to regional divisions and to local offices in part as a response to United Way and to his…