Critical Evaluation for Education Reform

Authors

  • Gisele A. Waters Auburn University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v6n20.1998

Keywords:

Educational Change, Elementary Secondary Education, Evaluation Methods, Evaluation Utilization

Abstract

The school reform movement has done little to provide an accurate analysis of the production of inequality or the reproduction of social injustice in the public schools or the larger social order. The ideology that influences this movement has often prevented the realization of any notion of an egalitarian ideal, the elimination of inequality, or the improvement of those who are least well-off. I ask educators and evaluators of education reform efforts to reconsider critically their roles in social science research, to reclaim the battleground of public school reform by focusing on the democratic purpose of public schooling, and the institutional problems in educational programs and practice that often inhibit action toward this ideal. The first part of this article includes an extensive argument explaining the "why" of critical evaluation. The theoretical literature on inquiry in science and social science, the ideology of critical theory, critical social psychology, and Freirean pedagogy are consulted as additional tools for augmenting the practice, policies, and responsibilities of evaluators in education. I review three contemporary perspectives of evaluation in order to begin rethinking the purposes and functions that evaluation serves in education. It also demonstrates how mainstream and contemporary evaluations can be used to serve a particular set of social and political values. The second part of this article begins a preliminary journey toward describing the "how" of critical evaluation. Critical evaluators can fight for social justice by combining the merit criteria of state and federal public education law, and the methods of an adversary oriented evaluation in order to transform educational environments that serve the future potentials of all children. Therefore education involves the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world (Freire, 1985).

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Gisele A. Waters, Auburn University

Working in Texas as a public school teacher for six years in bilingual/ESL education classrooms, and special education resource significantly influenced my critical analysis of the educational process. During that time, I held delegate positions of leadership on district and campus advisory teams, sharing the responsibility in the development and implementation of district and campus level improvement plans. The obstacles encountered to implement research based best practices carefully positioned my observations and questions about teaching and learning. Ultimately, my heart lies with teachers and children and the institutional pressures that affect them. Today my teaching at the undergraduate level reflects an instructional approach that frames my passions for issues of social justice, democracy, power, voice, and equity in schools and schooling. My methodological interests lie in the cultivation of a critical social science, a science intended to empower those involved to change as well as to understand their world.

Downloads

Published

1998-11-03

How to Cite

Waters, G. A. (1998). Critical Evaluation for Education Reform. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 6, 20. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v6n20.1998

Issue

Section

Articles