Social Construction of Reality - Bad Request

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Problem Statement. The School District needs a program evaluation model that balances organizational knowledge creation with cost effectiveness, efficiency, and compliance issues. Purpose of the Study. The purpose of this study was to conduct a Utilization- Focused Evaluation (Patton, 1997) of the program evaluation process of The School District. The study will provide The School District a site-specific process and model for future program evaluations. Research Questions To address the purpose of the study, the following research questions will guide the study: 1. Can a site-specific model for program evaluation be generated? 2. What data can be gathered to inform the creation of the program evaluation model? 3. How will data be analyzed to inform the creation of the model? Research Methods A qualitative case study methodology was used. According to Merriam (1998), a case study can provide a detailed examination and understanding of one setting, a single subject, or a particular event. Denizen and Lincoln (2000) note case studies can be a disciplined force in setting public policy and in generating reflection on human experience. The topic for this case study was selected in the hope that the result would inform The School District’s future program evaluation practices. This case study was differentiated from other research in that it was developed via The School District’s unique paradigm. This was accomplished using Utilization-Focused Evaluation (UFE) 47
principles (Patton, 1997) in order to provide the basis for the evaluation of The School District’s program evaluation model. The UFE paradigm suggests that for evaluations to be useful, and thus utilized, stakeholders must be involved as much as possible with all facets of the evaluation. The UFE approach stipulates that the primary intended users will participate in the selection of the most significant content, methods, theory, and applications pursuant to the contextual reality in which the organization functions. This study was predicated upon qualitative research methods. The School District’s superintendent, who articulated the need for a program evaluation model in her district, inspired this proposed research. She explained how the pervasive culture of compliance erodes away at any hope for organizational knowledge creation. She expressed an unwillingness to allow this to happen on her watch and explained that she would very much like to engage her key stakeholders in the challenge of engendering an organizational stance which eschews cow-towing to compliance and sacrificing learning on the altar of expediency (personal communication, December 16, 2007). When the circle of influence was broadened to include other stakeholders, her cabinet, the superintendent layered the aforementioned challenge upon the recently articulated district vision, mission, and goals, particularly: culture of collaboration, ensuring a safe learning environment, and fiscal responsibility. The stakeholders were particularly interested in learning how efficiency could be best integrated into program evaluation; this interest arose from a recent large-scale program evaluation which absorbed a high level of district resources- particularly in terms of building principals’ time. In short, it became clear that the stakeholders of this proposed research desired a transportable model for program evaluation, one which functioned within the contextual constraints of The School 48
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UTILIZATION-FOCUSED EVALUATION OF T
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The undersigned, appointed by the D
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The lessons I have
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fearlessness, and reminded me of wh
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Research Questions Research Methods
Page 11 and 12: LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Strong
Page 13 and 14: UTLIZATION-FOCUSED EVALUATION OF TH
Page 15 and 16: process-use within future evaluatio
Page 17 and 18: One leader trained by this program,
Page 19 and 20: Objectivation. Objectivation is the
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Page 23 and 24: logical or sequential links among r
Page 25 and 26: Figure 1. The School District’s p
Page 27 and 28: Objectivation. This is the process
Page 29 and 30: evaluation in general) is evaluatio
Page 31 and 32: CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF LITERATURE In
Page 33 and 34: Objectivation Legitimation OVERVIEW
Page 35 and 36: the profession: systemic inquiry, c
Page 37 and 38: 5. Eclectic Evaluation (1 approach
Page 39 and 40: however, it is important to remembe
Page 41 and 42: Figure 3. The Utilization-Focused E
Page 43 and 44: eginning an evaluation this way ser
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Page 47 and 48: Institutionalization. A second proc
Page 49 and 50: Legitimation. Legitimation, the thi
Page 51 and 52: evaluation report was made to the s
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Page 55 and 56: played into the use of electronic s
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Page 59 and 60: to achieve federal compliance (Ross
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Page 65 and 66: with other stakeholders (Appendix E
Page 67 and 68: Short interviews. Development of qu
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Page 71 and 72: Summary The School District had not
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Page 81 and 82: The School District’s vision, mis
Page 83 and 84: Figure 8. Step 1- Important concept
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Page 87 and 88: Short Stakeholder Interviews The ne
Page 89 and 90: This stakeholder went on to say tha
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Page 101 and 102: Figure 12. An organic reporting too
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Page 105 and 106: CHAPTER FIVE DISCUSSION WITH CONCLU
Page 107 and 108: Discussion of Findings Three resear
Page 109 and 110: Figure 13. The level of involvement
Page 111 and 112: 5. Organizational culture can be ch
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evaluator, but also the program sup
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Table Two. The research findings ca
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3. The School District should compl
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2. A follow-up study of the impleme
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The chief research question was whe
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Denzin, N. K. & Lincoln, Y. S. (200
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Nelson, M. & Eddy, R. M. (2008). Ev
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Starratt, R. (2003). Centering educ
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22. Accreditation and certification
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Researcher’s Name: Laura Nelson R
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The Campus Institutional Review Boa
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Short Interview Protocol Appendix E
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Second Long Interview Protocol Appe
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Appendix I Affinity Diagram 124
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Appendix K NCLB Content Analysis Di
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Appendix M School District Vision,
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Appendix O Examples of Programs- Da
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Interviewee Effective (ness) (effec
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Interviewee Perceive perception Sup
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Program Mission CSIP Value Appendix
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VITA Laura Nelson earned a B.A. in
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Social Construction of Reality - Bad Request

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