Critical Social Theory and Evaluation Practice
New Directions for Evaluation, Number 127
Published on 16. November 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
112 pages
978-0-470-90944-7 (ISBN)
Description
As a practice meant to improve society, evaluation is implicated in discussions about which societal and cultural values and principles of justice will prevail and which ones will get subverted or ignored altogether. For the most part, as currently configured, the relationship of evaluators to policy makers has jeopardized evaluation's ability to provide the critical lens needed for feedback on the effects of a society's practices, policies, and structures. Many theorists believe that it is only by examining and critically assessing how knowledge is produced and reproduced in society that we can better reflect on and imagine new, more socially just, social configurations and relations. One such approach, critical theory, is a pedagogical practice that employs a systemic and historical critique of social and cultural formations and practices in a way that fosters citizens' abilities to evaluate and alter them. The intent of this issue of New Directions for Evaluation is to show the relevance of critical social theory for evaluation practice.
Each of the authors in this volume addresses in a different way and from a variety of disciplinary fields what a critical theory lens might offer evaluation practice. This is the 127th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Evaluation, an official publication of the American Evaluation Association.
Each of the authors in this volume addresses in a different way and from a variety of disciplinary fields what a critical theory lens might offer evaluation practice. This is the 127th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Evaluation, an official publication of the American Evaluation Association.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Chichester
United Kingdom
Publishing group
John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 232 mm
Width: 166 mm
Thickness: 6 mm
Weight
266 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-470-90944-7 (9780470909447)
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Schweitzer Classification
Content
EDITOR'S NOTES ( Melissa Freeman). 1. Critical Social Theory: Core Tenets, Inherent Issues (Melissa Freeman, Erika Franca S. Vasconcelos) This chapter outlines the core tenets of critical social theory and describes inherent issues facing evaluators conducting critical theory evaluation. 2. Falling Forward: Lessons Learned From Critical Reflection on an Evaluation Process With a Prisoner Reentry Program (Barbara Hooper) A formative evaluation of life-skills learning modules with men and women in a residential prisoner reentry program is critically reflected on for consistency and inconsistency to the tenets of critical theory on issues of voice, inclusion, and power. 3. Critical Development? Using a Critical Theory Lens to Examine the Current Role of Evaluation in the Youth-Development Field (Sarah Zeller-Berkman) A critical theory lens is used to examine the way a theory of change for the field of youth development and youth program evaluations inadvertently maintain young people in the United States in a low-status position. 4. Moral Knowledge and Responsibilities in Evaluation Implementation: When Critical Theory and Responsive Evaluation Collide (Melissa Freeman, Judith Preissle, Steven Havick) A retrospective analysis of an external evaluation of an inaugural summer camp to teach high school students how to preserve religious freedom reveals the challenges of balancing obligations to promote the social well-being of society with responsibilities to clients and other stakeholders. 5. Examining Outcomes-Based Educational Evaluation Through a Critical Theory Lens (Christina Segerholm) Contemporary educational evaluation policy and practice is challenged by applying critical theory and hermeneutics perspectives and by asking whose interests are being served through evaluation. 6. Against the Majoritarian Story of School Reform: The Comer Schools Evaluation as a Critical Race Counternarrative (George W. Noblit, Michelle Jay) This chapter documents how a critical race theory perspective illuminates the way evaluators constructed a counternarrative of school reform while working with James Comer's School Development Program. 7. Critical Social Theory Evaluation: Slaying the Dragon (Linda Mabry) This chapter examines the historical and professional controversies, risks, compensations, and opportunity costs associated with taking, or not taking, a critical social theory approach to evaluation. INDEX.