Date of Award

4-1994

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Dr. Daniel Stufflebeam

Second Advisor

Dr. Zoe Barley

Third Advisor

Dr. Jack Mawdsley

Abstract

Evaluation conducted for the purpose of certifying a program's utility or summarizing its value is summative in nature. Most commonly, summative evaluations are conducted retrospectively to provide a record for program accountability. In the case of long term programs that may run ten or twenty years, however, there is often a need to conduct summative evaluations while the program is operating, so that value and utility can be assessed at various stages of the program's development. This study was designed to develop the concept and methodology for conducting these interim summative evaluations.

Through a review of research, characteristics of interim summative evaluations were identified and then used to design and conduct such an evaluation for one particular application. A framework and process for summatively evaluating ongoing programs were thus articulated. The process was then analyzed to critically examine the concept and operationalization of interim summative evaluation and to produce guidelines and recommendations for application.

Definitions of formative and summative evaluation, independent of the timing of the evaluation, are suggested by this work. One finding of the study was that Stufflebeam's CIPP model for program evaluation, augmented by "Sustainability" evaluation, could be particularly useful in designing summative evaluations for long term programs. Recommendations included: (a) that the Joint Committee's Standards for Educational Programs. Projects, and Materials be used to design and evaluate interim summative evaluation reports; (b) that evaluations of long term programs include summative components that are planned in the context of ongoing evaluation and clearly bounded; and (c) that evaluators attempt to anticipate informational needs of clients.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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