Fostering an Evaluative Culture by Addressing a Breakdown in the Policy Development Cycle
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3138/cjpe.74582Keywords:
policy, evaluation framework, evaluative culture, change management, trusteeAbstract
Systematic evaluation contributes to a strong governance function that leads to improvement and accountability in school systems. Evaluation is integral to the policy development cycle. Elected school board trustees in River City school division were challenged in their governance role by a lack of evaluative feedback on policies. A four-step change process was created to guide the development of an evaluation framework to address the gap and foster an evaluative culture within the board. The change process described could be applied by other school divisions to enhance their policy evaluation function. More broadly, the importance of careful planning and the benefits of a participatory approach to evaluation are integral pieces to any change effort.
References
Agron, P., Berends, V., Ellis, K., & Gonzalez, M. (2010). School wellness policies: Perceptions, barriers, and needs among school leaders and wellness advocates. Journal of School Health , 80 (11), 527–535. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2010.00538.x
Alkin, M. C. (2011). Evaluation essentials from A to Z . Guilford Press.
Bourgeois, I., & Cousins, J. (2013). Understanding dimensions of organizational evaluation capacity. American Journal of Evaluation , 34 (3), 299–319. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098214013477235
Carver, J., & Carver, M. (2009). Implementing policy governance and staying on track . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Chapman, C., & Ainscow, M. (2019). Using research to promote equity within education systems: Possibilities and barriers. British Educational Research Journal, 45(5), 899–917. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3544
Dahler-Larsen, P., & Boodhoo, A. (2019). Evaluation culture and good governance: Is there a link? Evaluation , 25 (3), 277–293. https://doi.org/10.1177/1356389018819110
De Weger, E., Van Vooren, N., Luijkx, K., Baan, C., & Drewes, H. (2018). Achieving successful community engagement: A rapid realist review. BMC Health Services Research, 18(1), 285–285. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-018-3090-1
Deszca, G., Ingols, C., & Cawsey, T. (2020). Organizational change: An action-oriented toolkit (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE.
Guerra-López, I., & Toker, S. (2012). An application of the impact evaluation process for designing a performance measurement and evaluation framework in K–12 environments. Evaluation and Program Planning, 35(2), 222–235.
Hanberger, A. (2016). Evaluation in local school governance: A framework for analysis. Education Inquiry, 7(3), 217–236. https://doi.org/10.3402/edui.v7.29914
Henshall, A. (2017, June 30). How to use the Deming cycle for continuous quality improvement . Retrieved from the Process Street website: https://www.process.st/deming-cycle/
House, E. R. (2019). Evaluation with a focus on justice. New Directions for Evaluation, 2019(163), 61–72. https://doi.org/10.1002/ev.20378
Lindgren, L., Hanberger, A., & Lundström, U. (2016). Evaluation systems in a crowded policy space: Implications for local school governance. Education Inquiry , 7 (3), 237–258. https://doi.org/10.3402/edui.v7.30202
MacLellan-Wright, M. F., Patten, S., dela Cruz, A. M., & Flaherty, A. (2007). A participatory approach to the development of an evaluation framework: Process, pitfalls, and payoffs. Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 22(1), 99–124.
Mayne, J. (2009). Building an evaluative culture: Th e key to eff ective evaluation and results management. Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 24(2), 1–30.
Mueller, R. (2011). Seeking election: Evaluating a campaign for public school board trusteeship. Canadian Journal of Education , 34 (3), 213–228.
Nienaber, H. (2014). Examining servant leadership in effective school governance. International Journal of Educational Development in Africa, 1(1), 88–95. https://doi.org/10.25159/2312-3540/47
Patton, M. Q. (2021). Evaluation criteria for evaluating transformation: Implications for the coronavirus pandemic and the global climate emergency . American Journal of Evaluation , 42 (1), 53–89. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098214020933689
Ryan, J., & Rottmann, C. (2007). Educational leadership and policy approaches to critical social justice. Educational Administration and Foundations, 18(1/2), 9–23.
Smith, B. J, Tang, K. C., & Nutbeam, D. (2006). WHO health promotion glossary: New terms. Health Promotion International , 21 (4), 340–345. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/dal033
Voegeli, C., Schmitt-Boshnick, M., & Krupa, E. (2021). Evaluation advisory groups: Considerations for design and management. Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 36(2), 227–235. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjpe.69949
Zukoski , A. P., & Bosserman, C. (2017). Essentials in participatory evaluation. In D. M. Fetterman, L. Rodríguez-Campos, & A. P. Zukoski (Eds.), Collaborative, participatory, and empowerment evaluation: Stakeholder involvement approaches (pp. 48–56). New York: Guilford Press.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Michelle Anderson-Draper
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors contributing to The Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation agree to release their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 (CC-BY-NC) license. This licence allows this work to be copied, distributed, remixed, transformed, and built upon for any purpose provided that appropriate attribution is given, a link is provided to the license, and changes made were indicated.
Authors retain copyright of their work and grant the journal right of first publication.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
