Evaluation Capacity Building in the Schools

Administrator-Led and Teacher-Led Perspectives

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe evaluation capacity building using an immersion approach in two schools: one with an administrator-led process and one with a teacher-led process. The descriptions delineate conceptual, developmental, and sustainability aspects of capacity building through the perspectives of the teachers, principals, and evaluation specialists. The immersion approach to evaluation capacity building highlights the distinctions between developing capacity for using evaluation information and the capacity to conduct evaluations, and provides insight into the use of direct and indirect approaches to building capacity. The two cases also showcase the roles played by ownership in developing evaluation capacity, especially sustainability.