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Evaluation Models is an up-to-date revision of the classic text
first published in 1983. Organized in three sections, the first
includes a historical perspective on the growth of evaluation
theory and practice and two comparative analyses of the various
alternative perspectives on evaluation. The second section includes
articles representing the major schools of thought about evaluation
written by the leaders who have developed these schools and models.
The final section describes and discusses the Standards for Program
Evaluation and the reformation of program evaluation.
Standardized testing in the United States has been increasing at a
rapid pace in the last twenty-five years. The market for tests has
not only been expanding rapidly, but has also been changing sharply
in structure into a fractured marketplace. Indeed, one of the main
features of this book is that the market for standardized testing
is highly fractured - with segments of the market facing monopoly
conditions, others facing oligopoly conditions and still others
where near free-market conditions exist. One of the main premises
of the book is that the structures of markets have strong
implications for how those markets perform. While this notion is
widely accepted among economists, it is not widely appreciated in
educational research. A second motivation for the book is that very
little scholarly attention has been focused on the standardized
testing industry. This topic - the structure of the testing
industry and implications for the quality of tests and test use -
affects how we evaluate the learning of students, the effectiveness
of teaching, the quality of schools and the educational health of
the nation. Of particular concern to the authors is one vital
aspect of test quality: test validity. This book is the most
current and authoritative review and analysis of the market for
standardized testing.
I personally learned to know Ralph Tyler rather late in his career
when, in the 1960s, I spent a year as a Fellow at the Center for
Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford. His term of
office as Director of the Center was then approaching its end. This
would seem to disqualify me thoroughly from preparing a Foreword to
this "Classic Works. " Many of his colleagues and, not least, of
his students at his dear Alma Mater, the University of Chicago, are
certainly better prepared than I to put his role in American
education in proper perspective. The reason for inviting me is, I
assume, to bring out the influence that Tyler has had on the
international educational scene. I am writing this Foreword on a
personal note. Ralph Tyler's accomplishments in his roles as a
scholar, policy maker, educational leader, and statesman have been
amply put on record in this book, not least in the editors'
Preface. My reflections are those of an observer from abroad but
who, over the last 25 years, has been close enough to overcome the
aloofness of the foreigner. Tyler has over many years been
criss-crossing the North American con tinent generously giving
advice to agencies at the federal, state, and local levels,
lecturing, and serving on many committees and task forces that have
been instrumental in shaping American education."
When George Bernard Shaw wrote his play, Pygmalion, he could hardly
have foreseen the use of the concept of the self-fulfilling
prophecy in debates about standardized testing in schools. Still
less could he have foreseen that the validity of the concept would
be examined many years later in Irish schools. While the primary
purpose of the experimental study reported in this book was not to
investigate the Pygmalion effect, it is inconceivable that a study
of the effects of standardized testing, conceived in the 1960s and
planned and executed in the 1970s, would not have been influenced
by thinking about teachers' expectations and the influence of test
information on the formation of those expectations. While our study
did pay special attention to teacher expectations, its scope was
much wider. It was planned and carried out in a much broader
framework, one in which we set out to examine the impact of a
standardized testing program, not just on teachers, but also on
school practices, students, and students' parents.
Attempting fonnally to evaluate something involves the evaluator
coming to grips with a number of abstract concepts such as value,
merit, worth, growth, criteria, standards, objectives, needs,
nonns, client, audience, validity, reliability, objectivity,
practical significance, accountability, improvement, process, pro
duct, fonnative, summative, costs, impact, infonnation,
credibility, and - of course - with the tenn evaluation itself. To
communicate with colleagues and clients, evaluators need to clarify
what they mean when they use such tenns to denote important
concepts central to their work. Moreover, evaluators need to
integrate these concepts and their meanings into a coherent
framework that guides all aspects of their work. If evaluation is
to lay claim to the mantle of a profession, then these
conceptualizations of evaluation must lead to the conduct of
defensible evaluations. The conceptualization of evaluation can
never be a one-time activity nor can any conceptualization be
static. Conceptualizations that guide evaluation work must keep
pace with the growth of theory and practice in the field. Further,
the design and conduct of any particular study involves a good deal
of localized conceptualization."
Attempting fonnally to evaluate something involves the evaluator
coming to grips with a number of abstract concepts such as value,
merit, worth, growth, criteria, standards, objectives, needs,
nonns, client, audience, validity, reliability, objectivity,
practical significance, accountability, improvement, process, pro
duct, fonnative, summative, costs, impact, infonnation,
credibility, and - of course - with the tenn evaluation itself. To
communicate with colleagues and clients, evaluators need to clarify
what they mean when they use such tenns to denote important
concepts central to their work. Moreover, evaluators need to
integrate these concepts and their meanings into a coherent
framework that guides all aspects of their work. If evaluation is
to lay claim to the mantle of a profession, then these
conceptualizations of evaluation must lead to the conduct of
defensible evaluations. The conceptualization of evaluation can
never be a one-time activity nor can any conceptualization be
static. Conceptualizations that guide evaluation work must keep
pace with the growth of theory and practice in the field. Further,
the design and conduct of any particular study involves a good deal
of localized conceptualization."
This is an up-to-date revision of the classic text first
published in 1983. It includes a historical perspective on the
growth of evaluation theory and practice and two comparative
analyses of the various alternative perspectives on evaluation. It
also includes articles representing the major schools of thought
about evaluation written by the leaders who have developed these
schools and models. The final section describes and discusses the
Standards for Program Evaluation and the reformation of program
evaluation.
Standardized testing in the United States has been increasing at a
rapid pace in the last twenty-five years. The market for tests has
not only been expanding rapidly, but has also been changing sharply
in structure into a fractured marketplace. Indeed, one of the main
features of this book is that the market for standardized testing
is highly fractured - with segments of the market facing monopoly
conditions, others facing oligopoly conditions and still others
where near free-market conditions exist. One of the main premises
of the book is that the structures of markets have strong
implications for how those markets perform. While this notion is
widely accepted among economists, it is not widely appreciated in
educational research. A second motivation for the book is that very
little scholarly attention has been focused on the standardized
testing industry. This topic - the structure of the testing
industry and implications for the quality of tests and test use -
affects how we evaluate the learning of students, the effectiveness
of teaching, the quality of schools and the educational health of
the nation. Of particular concern to the authors is one vital
aspect of test quality: test validity. This book is the most
current and authoritative review and analysis of the market for
standardized testing.
I personally learned to know Ralph Tyler rather late in his career
when, in the 1960s, I spent a year as a Fellow at the Center for
Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford. His term of
office as Director of the Center was then approaching its end. This
would seem to disqualify me thoroughly from preparing a Foreword to
this "Classic Works. " Many of his colleagues and, not least, of
his students at his dear Alma Mater, the University of Chicago, are
certainly better prepared than I to put his role in American
education in proper perspective. The reason for inviting me is, I
assume, to bring out the influence that Tyler has had on the
international educational scene. I am writing this Foreword on a
personal note. Ralph Tyler's accomplishments in his roles as a
scholar, policy maker, educational leader, and statesman have been
amply put on record in this book, not least in the editors'
Preface. My reflections are those of an observer from abroad but
who, over the last 25 years, has been close enough to overcome the
aloofness of the foreigner. Tyler has over many years been
criss-crossing the North American con tinent generously giving
advice to agencies at the federal, state, and local levels,
lecturing, and serving on many committees and task forces that have
been instrumental in shaping American education."
The book's goal is to clarify for parents, the public, and policy
makers what high stakes tests are and how their use affects our
schools, children, and society. It explores the various uses,
limitations, and paradoxical consequences of high stakes testing.
The present context of testing and the reauthorization of No Child
Left Behind make the proposed book timely and important. Current
testing programs provide valuable information to teachers, parents,
and policy-makers about students, schools, and school systems. But
paradoxically, these programs have unintended yet predictable
negative consequences for many students, teachers, and schools. It
is essential that the public and policy-makers understand the scope
and impacts that result from the inherent paradoxical nature of
high-stakes testing. Testing is viewed by policy makers across
party lines as an ""objective"" measure of student attainment and
has become their tool of choice to drive educational ""reform"" and
hold children, teachers, schools, and districts accountable.
Bipartisan support for test-based accountability is firm. For
example, on January of 2005 President Bush called on Congress to
extend NCLB testing in math and science to freshmen, sophomores and
juniors citing poor performance among high school students as a
""warning and a call to action."" (NYT 01/ 13/05) Senator Kennedy,
a critic of the President, nonetheless supported the President's
proposed high school testing provisions.
The book's goal is to clarify for parents, the public, and policy
makers what high stakes tests are and how their use affects our
schools, children, and society. It explores the various uses,
limitations, and paradoxical consequences of high stakes testing.
The present context of testing and the reauthorization of No Child
Left Behind make the proposed book timely and important. Current
testing programs provide valuable information to teachers, parents,
and policy-makers about students, schools, and school systems. But
paradoxically, these programs have unintended yet predictable
negative consequences for many students, teachers, and schools. It
is essential that the public and policy-makers understand the scope
and impacts that result from the inherent paradoxical nature of
high-stakes testing. Testing is viewed by policy makers across
party lines as an ""objective"" measure of student attainment and
has become their tool of choice to drive educational ""reform"" and
hold children, teachers, schools, and districts accountable.
Bipartisan support for test-based accountability is firm. For
example, on January of 2005 President Bush called on Congress to
extend NCLB testing in math and science to freshmen, sophomores and
juniors citing poor performance among high school students as a
""warning and a call to action."" (NYT 01/ 13/05) Senator Kennedy,
a critic of the President, nonetheless supported the President's
proposed high school testing provisions.
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