enough is enough

The tendency toward what is believed to be scientific language has resulted in an emotionally eviscerated form of expression; any sense of the poetic or the passionate must be excised. Instead, the aspiration is to be value-neutral and technical. Its better to talk about subjects than students, better to refer to treatment than to teaching, better to measure than to judge, better to deal with output than with results. And if one is to do research, it is much more objective to speak in the third person singular or the first person plural than in the first person singular. Cool, dispassionate objectivity has resulted in sterile, mechanistic language devoid of the playfulness and artistry that are so essential to teaching and learning.
Eisner, 1985, p. 20

our destinations
Focusing on anomaliessome alternative theories of evaluation.
Considering possibilities, tensions, and resolutions.

Using the anomalies to refine our understanding.

Identifying principles for evaluation of an IE program whats your model?

Newfield et al.the Tebuwa Cloth

Eisner (2001)indicators of quality?

What does it mean to say a school is doing well?

Working in groups of 3 and using the Newfield et al. and Eisner (2001) articles, identify indicators of qualitywhat these authors suggest we should consider if we want to assess student learning/evaluate school programs more effectively. Next, consider what might be missing from the list. For example, is imagination addressed adequately? Why or why not?

What does it mean to say a school is doing well?

Finally, form NEW groups. Evaluate EITHER what Newfield et al. OR Eisner (2001) recommend. That is, EVALUATE their recommendations. What criteria will you use to judge their suggestions?

features of new assessment/evaluation

Evaluation/Assessment Practice should be authentic focus on process reflect values/structure of the field of knowledge be collaborative allow more than one possible answer allow diverse forms of representation point to the larger context of which knowledge is a part ()

a thought about clarity

Our discussion will be adequate if it has as much clearness as the subject matter admits of, for precision is not to be sought for alike in all discussions, any more than in all the products of the craftsfor it is the mark of an educated man to look for precision in each class of things just so far as the nature of the subject admits; it is evidently equally foolish to accept probable reasoning from a mathematician and to demand from a rhetorician scientific proofs.
Aristotle (in Eisner, 2002, p. 171)

modelswhats yours?
a model characterizes its authors view of the main concepts and structure of evaluation world, while at the same time serving the exemplary function of providing guidelines for using these concepts to arrive at defensible descriptions, judgments, and recommendations
(Madaus & Kellaghan, 2000, pp. 19-20)

this coursepiecing together your model for evaluation of an IE program (or some aspect of it)

some guidelines
Begin compiling a list of principles/guidelines you consider important for evaluating an IE program. How do we acknowledge imagination as central to learning and not sand in a motor (Eisner, 1985)?