Co-Constructing a Contextually Responsive Evaluation Framework: The Talent Development Model of Reform New Directions for Evaluation, Number 101

by Thomas, Veronica G.; Stevens, Floraline I.

• ISBN13: 9780787974534
• ISBN10: 0787974536
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-05-05
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass

Summary

This volume presents the Talent Development evaluation framework, an approach for evaluating urban school reform interventions deeply embedded in the work of the Howard University Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk (CRESPAR) and the Talent Development Model of School Reform. The CRESPAR Talent Development (TD) evaluation approach is rooted in several traditions of evaluation that intentionally seek engagement with contexts of practice. These traditions include responsive, participatory, empowerment, and culturally competent approaches to evaluation. The CRESPAR TD evaluation approach also takes up themes of inclusiveness and partnership advanced by the recent promotion of multiple methods in evaluation. With these themes, the TD evaluation approach is viably grounded in well-accepted evaluation concepts and principles. The approach further seeks to be practical, useful, formative, and empowering for the many individuals served by TD evaluations and to give "voice" to persons whose perspectives are often ignored, minimized, or rejected in urban school settings.Beyond such grounding and ambitions, the CRESPAR TD evaluation framework seeks to re-position evaluation in low-income urban contexts as accountable, not only for producing accurate and relevant information on the program being evaluated, but also for enabling and contributing to the program's social betterment and social justice intentions. This re-positioning is effected primarily by a collaborative, co-constructionist model for evaluation in which CRESPAR program developers, implementers, and evaluators - along with key program stakeholders - partner together in envisioning, implementing, and evaluating programs that are responsive to and make cultural sense in the context at hand. CRESPAR TD evaluators are contextually and culturally engaged and are responsible for this engagement. This volume highlights the approach's five major themes: engaging stakeholders, co-construction, responsiveness, cultural and contextual relevance, and triangulation of perspectives.

Table of Contents

Editors’ Notes (Veronica G. Thomas, Floraline I. Stevens).

1. Building a Contextually Responsive Evaluation Framework: Lessons from Working with Urban School Interventions (Veronica G. Thomas).

The chapter discusses the conceptual underpinnings and overarching themes of the Talent Development evaluation framework and makes recommendations for minimizing evaluation problems in diverse urban settings.

2. Evaluating the ­Co-Construction of the Family, School, and Community Partnership Program in a ­Low-Income Urban High School (Velma LaPoint, Henry L. Jackson).

This chapter describes the collaborative evaluation of the ­co-construction of a ­school-based family, school, and community partnership program for black students attending an urban high school.

3. A Culturally Responsive Evaluation Approach Applied to the Talent Development ­School-to-Career Intervention Program (Jo-Anne L. Manswell Butty, Malva Daniel Reid, Velma LaPoint).

A culturally responsive approach in evaluating an urban ­school-to-career intervention program resulted in both successes and challenges.

4. Successes and Challenges in Triangulating Methodologies in Evaluations of Exemplary Urban Schools (Donna Penn Towns, Zewelanji Serpell).

Triangulating methodologies in evaluation allowed for stakeholder involvement and revealed contexts that a narrower approach might have failed to illuminate.

5. Talent Development Professional Development Evaluation Model: A Paradigm Shift (Constance M. Ellison).

The chapter discusses the Talent Development Professional Development program evaluation design, which is consistent with the Talent Development evaluation framework.

6. Commentary: Do Talent Development Project Evaluations Demonstrate a Coherent Approach? (Floraline I. Stevens).

This commentary examines the extent to which the chapters in this volume used a coherent, contextually responsive evaluation framework. It also offers suggestions about possible alternative evaluation efforts to produce more powerful and comprehensive outcome information.

7. Commentary: Can Critical Theories of or on Race Be Used in Evaluation Research in Education? (Laurence Parker).

This commentary explores the utility of critical race theory in the

evaluation process in education, particularly in regard to the epistemological and methodological perspectives put forth by the Talent Development Model.

Index.