No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

If the purpose of evaluation is learning, dialogue can be an effective means for achieving this purpose. This chapter focuses on the crucial role of language in establishing the heuristic stance that fosters dialogic inquiry and thereby enhances the effectiveness of evaluation. The role of the evaluator in facilitating dialogue is explicated through examples from practice.

This article discusses how quantitative and qualitative methods can be combined in a single evaluation study to better understand the phenomenon in question. Three perspectives on combining methods are reviewed: the purist approach where the two methods are seen as mutually exclusive, the situationalist approach that views them as separate but equal, and the pragmatist approach that suggests integration is possible. From the pragmatist position it is argued that either method can be used at the analysis stage to corroborate (provide convergence in findings), elaborate (provide richness and detail), or initiate (offer new interpretations) findings from the other method. Specific examples of how results from each method can inform the other are offered.

No abstract

Norms embedded in a school's culture vary according to their alterability and their capacity to establish meaning for professional identity. Staff tend to be unable to imagine satisfactorily performirg their roles if some condition or event interferes with adhering to the expectations for behavior that reside at the core of their professional purpose. Metaphorically labeling such norms as "sacred," this article argues that challenges to the sacred are greeted immediately with forthright resistance and subsequently if the threat continues with the creation of a culture of opposition. Data from three case studies of high schools are used to support the argument and to provide examples of what is meant by sacred norms.

A conception of evaluation as learning focuses attention on the critical inquiry cycle that incorporates use throughout the evaluation process.