Creating New Ideas in Evaluation

Abstract

In Spring, 1967, I was completing a doctorate in education at the University of Illinois when I received a phone call. Would I be interested in evaluating the Illinois State Program for Educating the Gifted and report the findings to the state legislature? I would have four years and a budget of $5m (2025 dollars). Uncertain, I walked over to the office of my statistics professor. “Sure, you should take it on,” he said. “But I don’t know anything about evaluating programs,” I said. “Nobody does,” he said. “Only a few papers have been written on the topic, including a recent one by Bob Stake. He’s next door. Go talk to him.”

I did take on the project, a risky choice compared to university jobs. I was 30. Four years later, I completed the evaluation successfully, one of the first large program evaluations in the country; I had learned evaluation by doing it. Over the next several decades, I continued to conduct and write about evaluations, helping develop evaluation as a distinct practice, profession, and discipline. (Excerpt from the introduction)

As I look back nearly 60 years to the beginning of the evaluation endeavor, I have a feeling of solid accomplishment. We, my colleagues and I, built something that helps people and makes society better, something worthwhile. In my contribution, I sense the morality of my mother and the verve and toughness of my dad and uncles. Since none had the opportunity to attend high school, they might not have understood what evaluation is about, but they would be proud of my contribution. I hope going forward that evaluation can maintain its honesty and integrity, so essential to its social and intellectual significance. (Excerpt from the conclusion)