Social Construction of Reality - Bad Request

The problem serving as impetus for this UFE was that The School District was
unaccustomed to utilizing program evaluation in either the sense mandated by MSIP or in
the sense of knowledge creation. Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) assert that knowledge
creation and, thus, organizational innovation, comes about in response to the pressure of
current or impending problems and/or organizational issues. Merriam (2001) explains
that one of the five assumptions underlying adult learning is a need for a problem and a
subsequent interest in immediate application of knowledge. Bruffee (1999) notes that the
impetus for effective collaboration is often a group’s focus “on solving or dealing with a
formidable problem” (p. 9). Preskill and Torres (1999) define evaluative inquiry, the
workhorse of organizational knowledge creation, as “an ongoing process for investigating
and understanding critical organizational issues” (p. 1). Preskill & Torres (1999) note the
importance of intentional and contextual learning. They argue that such a paradigm
“involves developing systems and structures that not only allow but also encourage
organization members to learn and grow together- to develop ‘communities of practice’”
(p. 14). Berger and Luckmann (1967) explain how the social construction of reality
causes organizations to address and integrate problems. “Even the unproblematic sector
of everyday reality is so only until further notice, that is until continuity is interrupted by
the appearance of a problem. When this happens the reality of everyday life seeks to
integrate the problematic sector into what is already unproblematic” (p. 24).
Summary
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires K-12 organizations to perform
numerous program evaluations, despite the fact few of these organizations have the
professional capacity to support program evaluations beyond the minimum level required
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