Question

Provide a response for each of the following questions. Submissions should be at least 1.5 pages in length, Times New Roman, 12-point font. 1. What are the steps of the evaluation process? 2. What are some of the benefits and limitations of an having an external evaluator (one who was not involved with the project) evaluate the program? 3. Discuss the differences between formative evaluation and summative evaluation.

Answer 1

1) The different steps for conducting an evaluation are as under:

CLARIFY WHAT IS TO BE EVALUATED- to develop an evaluability assessment with clearly-defined goal(s), populations, strategies, activities, outputs, and outcomes.

ENGAGE STAKEHOLDERS - to build support for the evaluation by engaging stakeholders

ASSESS RESOURCES AND EVALUABILITY- to assess available resources for evaluation and whether the program is ready to be evaluated.

DETERMINE YOUR EVALUATION QUESTIONS- to help identify and determine questions to meet your evaluation goals.

DETERMINE APPROPRIATE METHODS OF MEASUREMENT AND PROCEDURES- to identify the most feasible and credible methods to use and how data will be collected.

DEVELOP EVALUATION PLAN- to identify specific evaluation activities, tasks, roles, resource allocations, and deadlines.

COLLECT DATA - to collect credible evidence to answer each evaluation question - results and recommendations depend upon data quality.

PROCESS DATA AND ANALYZE RESULTS - to enter data, check quality and consistency of data entry and analyze data to identify your evaluation results.

INTERPRET AND DISSEMINATE RESULTS - to interpret and share your evaluation findings, engaging stakeholders so that they can help identify recommendations.

APPLY EVALUATION FINDINGS - to use your evaluation results.

2) Advantages of external evaluator:

• Know-how
• Methodological knowledge
• Acceptance by stakeholder
• Neutrality Disadvantages
• Unfamiliar with project
• Costs
• Possibly complex process

3)

A) Formative assessment is used to monitor student’s learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors or teachers to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning.

Summative assessment, however, is used to evaluate student’s learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark.

B) As the definition already gave away, formative assessment is an ongoing activity. The evaluation takes place during the learning process. Not just one time, but several times.

A summative evaluation takes place at a complete other time. Not during the process, but after it. The evaluation takes place after a course or unit’s completion.

C) With formative assessments you try to figure out whether a student’s doing well or needs help by monitoring the learning process.

When you use summative assessments, you assign grades. The grades tell you whether the student achieved the learning goal or not.