Checklists for Evaluation Projects in Higher Ed

The Evaluation Checklist Project at Western Michigan's Evaluation Center presents a menu of checklists (blind, peer-reviewed) across categories such as evaluation management, models, criteria, institutionalization, and even checklist creation. Most of the entries are in checklist format; just a few are text-heavy.

In the Institutionalization category, two complementary lists can be put to good use to introduce the main concepts of institutional-level evaluation to stakeholders new to the process. (The two lists are described below.) A related 2002 list under Evaluation Management is also very short; it comes to the same purpose for the evaluation staffer who must sell the process. The title is apt: Making Evaluation Meaningful to All Education Stakeholders.

Institutionalizing Evaluation Checklist (2002) - Daniel Stufflebeam's list of 17 steps fits on one page and, akin to its repeated mention of stakeholders, can serve as a "big picture" view of evaluation for those stakeholders who don't know the scope of an evaluation system. The title clearly leads to an institution-wide view.

A Checklist for Building Organizational Evaluation Capacity (2007) - Boris Volkov and Jean King cite the 2002 work by Stufflebeam as complementary to the newer work, but stress their emphasis is evaluation capacity building (ECB). Their 8 steps consist of a total of 35 sub-steps in the pattern of a general directive (cultivate a positive...context) answered with specific actions (make sure that key leaders....).

I also especially like two of the entries under Evaluation Models: Constructivist and Qualitative. They are among the longer checklists but that's a fit for their models.

On the Checklist web page (not on this blog page), allow your cursor to hover over each title for an abstract. With the exception of one Excel file, the checklists are presented as PDF files; the file sizes are listed on the web site but in the list below I have augmented that information with page counts. Also, I have added the publication year here because that's what I wanted to know when I began exploring the site. The list below follows the same pattern as the web site's for ease of location.

Evaluation Management
1999 - 5 pg - Plans and Operations - Stufflebeam
2001 - 6 pg - Budget Development - Horn
1999 - 1 pg - Contracts - Stufflebeam
2004 - 5 pg - Design - Stufflebeam
1976 - 1 pg - Negotiating Agreements - Stake
2001 - 2 pg - Feedback Workshops - Gullickson & Stufflebeam
2004 - 3 pg - Reports - Miron
2002 - 3 pg - Making Evaluation Meaningful to All Education Stakeholders - Gangopadhyay

Evaluation Models
2007 - 16 pg - CIPP Model - Stufflebeam
2001 - 15 pg - Constructivist (a.k.a. Fourth Generation) Evaluation - Guba & Lincoln
2000 - 2 pg - Deliberative Democratic Evaluation - House & Howe
2007 - 22 pg - Key Evaluation Checklist - Scriven
2003 - 13 pg - Qualitative Evaluation - Patton
2002 - 6 pg - Utilization-Focused Evaluation - Patton

Evaluation Values & Criteria
2001 - 3 pg - General Values and Criteria - Stufflebeam
1994 - 1 pg - Duties of the Teacher - Scriven
n.d. - 3 pg - Educational Products - Scriven
2001 - 3 pg - Institutionalization of Technology in Schools - Nelson, Post, & Bickel
1977 - 32 pg - Large-Scale Assessment Programs - Shepard
2002 - 12 pg - Research & Development Centers - Stufflebeam

Metaevaluation
2005 - 44 pg - AEA Guiding Principles - Stufflebeam, Goodyear, Marquart, & Johnson
2001 - 4 pg - Legal Viability of Personnel Evaluations - Stufflebeam & Pullin
2000 - 7 pg - Personnel Evaluations - Stufflebeam
2000 - 7 pg - Personnel Evaluation Systems - Stufflebeam
1999 - 8 pg - Program Evaluations (short version) - Stufflebeam
1999 - 11 pg - Program Evaluations (long version) - Stufflebeam
1999 - 11 pg - Program Evaluation Models - Stufflebeam

Evaluation Capacity Building & Institutionalization
2007 - 4 pg - Evaluation Capacity Building - Volkov & King
2002 - 1 pg - Institutionalizing Evaluation - Stufflebeam

Checklist Creation
2000 - 10 pg - Checklist Development - Stufflebeam
2003 - 3 pg - Checklist for Formatting Checklists - Bichelmeyer

© 2008 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as legal or professional advice. Bold is the co-author of Reflections: Preparing for your Practicum or Internship, geared to college interns in the child, education, and family fields. She is a consultant and speaker on assessment, distance learning, and technology.