Whose and what values? Advancing and illustrating explicit specification of evaluative criteria in education

Abstract

This paper addresses the theoretical and practical question of how to specify criteria used in educational evaluations. People and groups involved in and affected by an educational initiative typically bring different values to bear on the question of what a quality or successful initiative means. This poses a challenge of balancing and prioritizing between differing values when specifying criteria. To address this challenge, we present a framework and process that involves systematic consideration of multiple sources of criteria (i.e., who and where) and domains (e.g., design, outcomes) followed by explicitly defining criteria within an evaluation. We illustrate our use of this framework in three evaluations: a high school mathematics teacher program, K-12 principal professional development initiatives, and a graduate-level online healthcare administration program. Together, the framework and illustrations provide guidance and highlight future directions for strengthening explicit criteria specification in educational evaluation.