Summary

This volume analyzes how evaluation theorists apply their approach in practice. A scenario of a situation at an elementary school is presented to four prominent theorists, who describe how they would design and conduct an evaluation of the school's program. The editors consider the theorists' proposed evaluations, as well as their subsequent comments, to develop themes related to the influence of theory and context on practice. They also provide a comparative analysis of the theorists' evaluation approaches in relation to the context of evaluation case presented.Evaluation theorists seem to be quite good at propounding on how they think the evaluation world ought to work. Yet do we really know that what theorists say they would do in practice is indeed what they would actually do? Evaluation, after all, is situational. Each context offers its own constituency, set of values, programmatic elements, bureaucratic hurdles, and other variables. This volume demonstrates why evaluators need to adapt their point of view to a particular situation, and provides much-needed study and analysis on the way in which they make those adaptations.This is the 106th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Evaluation.

Editors' Notes

(4)

Marvin C. Alkin, Christina A. Christie

1. The Case: Bunche-Da Vinci Learning Partnership Academy

(10)

Nicole Eisenberg, Lynn Winters, Marvin C. Alkin

The authors present a case scenario of a situation at Bunche Academy in which evaluation is required.

2. What Theorists Say They Do: A Brief Description of Theorists' Approaches

(12)

Christina A. Christie, Tarek Azzam

This chapter offers a brief description of the evaluation points of view of the theorists who are the authors of the four subsequent chapters.

3. A Value-Engaged Approach for Evaluating the Bunche-Da Vinci Learning Academy

(20)

Jennifer C. Greene

Responsiveness to the context of the Bunche-Da Vinci Learning Academy frames this value-engaged evaluation plan.

4. In Pursuit of Social Betterment: A Proposal to Evaluate the Da Vinci Learning Model

(18)

Gary T. Henry

This chapter describes an evaluation of the Da Vinci Learning Model that would provide comparative information about its implementation and effectiveness in terms of the expectations that parents, teachers, and other stakeholders have for the schools.

5. Using Program Theory-Driven Evaluation Science to Crack the Da Vinci Code

(20)

Stewart I. Donaldson

This chapter illustrates how program theory-driven evaluation science could be used to provide practical and cost-effective external evaluation services to help Bunche-Da Vinci stakeholders.

6. A Proposal to Build Evaluation Capacity at the Bunche-Da Vinci Learning Partnership Academy

(14)

Jean A. King

This chapter places a capacity-building frame on the evaluation request, describing efforts that would create evaluation activities and infra-structure over time.

7. The Reality of Unreal Situations: Caveats and Insights

(12)

Marvin C. Alkin, Christina A. Christie, Jennifer C. Greene, Gary T. Henry, Stewart I. Donaldson, Jean A. King

This chapter explores the extent to which the context of the Bunche-Da Vinci situation, in relation to prior experience in the field, had an impact on the products that the four theorists provided.

8. Unraveling Theorists' Evaluation Reality

111

(18)

Marvin C. Alkin, Christina A. Christie

The editors provide an analysis of the four theorists' evaluation approaches, both comparatively and in relationship to the theorists' published evaluation perspectives.

Index

129

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