While I’m not sure exactly how this translates to research or evaluation, this display of the spread of an ‘idea’ (more accurately a Facebook post of Marvin the Martian) is interesting and compelling. Having recently struggled with meaningful ways to present social network data to project staff, this makes me wonder if there are similar animated ways to illustrate the nature and evolution of SNA maps.
Follow
some useful references on writing & publishing
Allison, A., & Forngia, T. (1992). The grad student’s guide to getting published. New York: Prentice Hall.
American Psychological Association. (2009). Publication manual of the American Psychological Associations (6th ed.). Washington, DC.
Becker, H. S., & Richards, P. (2007). Writing for social scientists: How to start and finish your thesis, book, or article (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Bridgewater, C. A., Bornstein, P. H., & Walkenbach, J. (1981). Ethical issues in the assignment of publication credit. American Psychologist, 36, 524-525.
Clifford, J. & Marcus, G. E. (1986). Writing culture. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Frost, P. J., & Taylor, M. S. (Eds.). (1996). Rhythms of academic life: Personal accounts of careers in academia. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Fuchs, L. S., & Fuchs, D. (1993). Writing research reports for publication: Recommendations for new authors. Remedial and Special Education, 14(3), 39-46.
Geertz, C. (1989). Works and lives: The anthropologist as writer. Boston: Polity Press.
Klingner, J. K., Scanlon, D. & Pressley, M. (2005). How to publish in scholarly journals. Educational Researcher, 34(8), 14-21.
Matkin, R. E., & Riggar, T. F. (1991). Persist and publish: Helpful hints for academic writing and publishing. Niwot, CO: University of Colorado Press.
University of Chicago Press. (2003). The Chicago manual of style (15th ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Strunk, W. J., & White, E. B. (2005). The elements of style (3rd. Ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. [NOTE: Treat yourself and get the edition illustrated by Maira Kalman.]
Truss, L. (2004). Eats, shoots and leaves: Why, commas really do make a difference! New York: Gotham.
Wolcott, H. F. (2008). Writing up qualitative research (3rd edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Purpose of evaluation
This is a pre-publication version of an entry in the International Encyclopedia of Education, 3rd Edition. Please note the correct citation in the text and refer to the final version in the print version of the IEE.
Mathison, S. (2010). The purpose of evaluation. In P. Peterson, B. McGaw & E. Baker (Eds.). The International Encyclopedia of Education, 3rd ed. Elsevier Publishers.
ABSTRACT
There are two primary purposes of evaluation in education: accountability and amelioration. Both purposes operate at multiple levels in education from individual learning to bounded, focused interventions to whole organizations, such as schools or colleges. Accountability is based primarily on summative evaluations, that is, evaluations of fully formed evaluands and are often used for making selection and resource allocation decisions. Amelioration is based primarily on formative evaluation, that is, evaluations of plans or developing evaluands and are used to facilitate planning and improvement. Socio-political forces influence the purpose of evaluation.
Evaluation is all around
Beginning a new semester I strive to find ways to illustrate that evaluative thinking is all around, and indeed may by the most ubiquitous form of thinking that we as humans do. In the words of The Troggs…
I feel it in my fingers
I feel it in my toes
[Evaluation] is all around me
And so the feeling grows
There are plenty of examples like Consumer Reports or Rotten Tomatoes or The Wine Spectator. But there is nothing like the many TV contest shows for entertaining examples of evaluation. This term my class watched the show Four Weddings and analyzed how the evaluation was done. It is quite a rich example that illustrates the logic of evaluation including such things as:
- > the complexity of establishing criteria, including the need for far more specificity than one might think
> relative weighting of criteria
> the slippery and amorphous nature of standards
> how grading and ranking differ, but can be combined in a single evaluation
> what the attributes of a good evaluator might be
It’s written on the wind
It’s everywhere I go, oh yes, it is
So if you really [evaluate]
Come on and let it show
NEPC brief on parent trigger laws: MISSING THE TARGET? THE PARENT TRIGGER AS A STRATEGY FOR PARENTAL ENGAGEMENT AND SCHOOL REFORM
With the impending release of the movie Won’t Back Down, NEPC authors provide a critique of parent trigger laws.
There is so much that is wrong headed about these laws and the NEPC brief does a nice job of touching on the major points: the misconstrual of parent involvement as the primary key to school reform; the representation of the laws as a grassroots movement when it is funded and promoted by think tanks (DfER, Parent Revolution, and StudentsFirst) and foundations (Gates, Broad, Walton Foundations) who are often right wing; and conflates parent control of schools with the promotion of charter schools as the only alternative to public schooling.
What evaluators do…
Center for Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment Inaugural Conference
Center for Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment
Inaugural Conference
“Repositioning Culture in Evaluation and Assessment”
Hosted by the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
April 21-23, 2013
Chicago, Illinois
Call for Submissions
The purpose of the Center for Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment (CREA) Inaugural Conference is to bring together an interdisciplinary group of scholars from the United States and internationally to focus on the role of culture in theory and practices of evaluation and assessment. The CREA conference will be unique in its definitive recognition of culture’s centrality to evaluation and assessment and will illuminate the landscape of culturally responsive evaluation and assessment, a space that remains largely uncharted. CREA specifically anticipates paper, symposia and roundtable submissions that address at least one of these four themes: 1) Defining culturally relevant assessment, 2) Documenting the use of culture in evaluation, 3) Pursuing social justice and, 4) Crossing cultural borders in evaluation and assessment. In addition, an international consortium of invited panels and speakers will address a diverse set of cultural viewpoints related to evaluation and assessment practice.
Visit the conference website.
EPSE 591 Readings
e-learning about Developmental Evaluation
A good opportunity to explore this hot topic in evaluation…
Free, but registration required. For more information go to http://www.mymande.org/evalpartners/e-learning-on-development-evaluation
UNICEF, Claremont Graduate University and IOCE, under the EvalPartners initiative, with support from The Rockefeller Foundation and in partnership with UN Women, are pleased to announce a new introductory e-Learning programme on Development Evaluation.
The e-learning is composed of the following three courses:Equity-focused evaluations
National Evaluation Capacity Development for Country-led Monitoring and Evaluation Systems
Emerging Practices in Development EvaluationThe instructors are 33 world-level specialists, including:
International experts, including Michael Quinn Patton, Michael Bamberger, Jim Rugh, David Fetterman, Patricia Rogers, Stewart Donaldson, Donna Mertens, Jennifer Greene, Bob Williams, Martin Reynolds, Saville Kushner and Hallie Preskill
Senior representatives of the international community, including Caroline Heider, Belen Sanz,
Indran Naidoo, Fred Carden, Hans Lundgren, and Marco Segone
Senior managers responsible for country-led M&E systems, including Sivagnanasothy Velayuthan and Diego Dorado
Leaders from the Global South and BRIC countries, including Zenda Ofir and Alexey KuzminThe e-learning is free and open to all interested evaluators. You may attend virtually from your personal or work computer anywhere in the world. The course includes on-line lectures, reading material and tests. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in an on-line forum, and on successful completion of the e-Learning course will be able to print out a certificate of virtual attendance.
Evaluation report writing
While there are lots of ways to communicate evaluation findings, written reports are still the most common mode of communication. The Art and Architecture of Writing Evaluation Reports provides loads of details about evaluation reports and general tips for writing.