Deborah Stedman raises the issue of how folks, especially classroom teachers, parent educators, and other staff perceive the role of an evaluator.  Years ago Ann Gundy (who conducted the national study of why some family literacy programs continued after public funds expired and why others did not do so) and I gave some presentations about evaluating family literacy programs.  We began the presentation with a slide showing a gigantic thumb, labeled "evaluator", crushing the poor program staff members and asked, "How many of you feel this way about evaluators"?  Virtually every hand in the room would go up.  

We then spent some time talking about the various roles evaluators could (and often do) play in using their findings and observations to help program staff make better decisions.  After some time, someone would often say, "You sound like you're on our side", to which we would respond, "There aren't any sides in what we do".  We would then explain that good evaluators acquire data about program operations and hopefully, present them in a way that is beneficial to program staff and all other audiences.  That's not to say that we don't discover functions that can be improved - that's part of why we're there.  However, putting people down is not one of our functions.  

I have met with school administrators and/or members of Boards of Education who weren't the greatest fans of the family (or any other) literacy program in their school.  I'm certain some of you know what I'm talking about.  However, they have always seemed receptive to an evaluator who presented good data, kept the conversation on the needs that were being met and how the program would enable families in the community to improve their lives, and who had recommendations for improvement that seemed "reasonable and doable" (without a lot of expense, of course).  On the other hand, evaluators should be objective in their activates and if something needs revised or changed, "say so", both orally and in written form.  Most of the time, Ann and I see excellent teaching in family literacy programs.  However, we have, on occasion, recommended that a program director either provide a teacher with some up-to-date training or possibly consider replacing that individual.  That's not easy to do, but we always ask, "Would we want someone (child or adult) in that classroom"?  If the answer is "no", we then have a serious talk with the program administrator.  We also make certain our recommendation is recorded somewhere.


Don Seaman
acs8716 at suddenlink.net
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