e-valuation

A website with resources for organizational evaluation, with a focus on assessment, learning and change is Reflect & Learn, a joint venture between International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and Universalia Management Group. In their words, the purpose of the website is:

Also we believe that improving organizations requires constant work. We are convinced that there is no “silver bullet” for improving the performance of organizations. Thus organizations need to learn about themselves and develop the problem solving skills to transform learning and insight into action. To do this an important step is for organizations to be able to generate systematic and credible evidence about themselves; who they are, how they function, and how well they are performing. The organizational assessment frameworks and approaches presented in this web site is our attempt to help organizations better knows themselves.

While military academies have been part of Chicago schools since 1999, the surge in efforts to create more is palpable, and Arne Duncan is a big supporter (no surprise there). The latest development is the financial incentive to local often financially strapped school districts to open charter schools run by the Marine Corps. Little to no evidence suggests that these schools improve the quality of education or academic achievement for students. However, Congress has passed a bill that supports increases in Junior ROTC. In the absence of evidence that such military academies are better schools, one has to conclude that they serve other purposes–fueling the military ranks and using vulnerable students for the benefit of the corporate-military apparatus.

Evaluations of all charter schools, including military academies need to consider a broad context and consider their worth and value by taking into consideration more than the simplistic representations of their value and dig through a state supported rhetoric that is at best diversionary.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31108509/