Contents :
Books
Evaluative Inquiry: Using Evaluation to Promote Student Success
Beverly A. Parsons
Improve learning for all students in all environments!
Evaluative Inquiry advances the capacity of teachers and prinicpals to provide more effective learning for all students in every type of academic environment. In this jargon-free book Parsons delivers a systematic evaluation process for gathering, analyzing, and identifying what changes are needed in schools today for productive learning.
Parsons provides the guidance, step-by-step instructions, and easy-to-use forms to help educators and schools leaders understand and implement this hands-on, in-depth evaluation process. Evaluative Inquiry can help you discover if your changes are making a difference and whether they enhance the successes of students and teachers alike.
Three types of evaluative inquiry are explored in this book:
• Quality – Does the initiative promote high-quality learning?
• Sustainability – Can the initiative be sustained?
• Cultivation – Can the initiative be expanded and nurtured?
This unique book puts the evaluative process into the hands of principals, teachers, administrators, board members, foundations, and community members. It contains a number of real life case examples to clearly demonstrate how the process actually works and outlines the tangible, successful results you can expect to realize in your own school or district.
To find out what reviewers are saying about "Evaluative Inquiry" click here.
You can order "Evaluative Inquiry" either through Corwin Press or Amazon.
2002
DIA20-0-7619-7814-3 (Paper) $29.95
DIA20-0-7619-7814-5 (Library Edition) $65.95
Corwin Press
"Quality Books for preK-12 Educators"
2455 Teller Road
Thousand Oaks, CA 91320
Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-4-1-SCHOOL
E-Mail: order@corwinpres.com
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Articles
InSites has produced numerous confidential evaluation and planning reports for specific clients. Below are examples of articles and papers that illustrate InSites' orientation and approach to evaluation, planning, and related professional development.
Click on any title to see an abstract of the article. The full document may then be viewed/downloaded in one or both of the following formats: PDF or MS Word. (Questions about which format to choose? Click here.)
Evaluation Methods
• Finding Transformative Themes Through Cluster Evaluation
• Attending to Self-Organizing Systems in Cluster/Initiative Evaluation
Logic Models:
• Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Logic Models But Were Afraid to Ask
• Making Logic Models More Systemic: An Activity
Evaluation/Research Findings
Partnerships:
• Contrasting School-University Partnerships with Community-University Partnerships
Professional Development:
• Progress and Promise: Shaping Long-Term Social Change Through Evaluation of Professional Development
• Creating a Teacher Induction Program
Planning Tools
System Change:
• The Stages of Systemic Change
Finding Transformative Themes Through Cluster Evaluation
Parsons, B.A. (1998, November). Finding Transformative Themes Through Cluster Evaluation. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Evaluation Association, Chicago, IL.
Abstract:
This paper illustrates several types of analyses that InSites did when evaluating a cluster of community-university partnerships funded by the W.K.Kellogg Foundation. The goal of the partnerships was to modify social service workers' education and practices to build on the assets of the community.
View/download this article in the following formats: PDF, MS Word. Or click here to return to the list above.
Attending to Self-Organizing Systems in Cluster/Initiative Evaluation
Parsons, B.A. (2007, March). Attending to Self-Organizing Systems in Cluster/Initiative Evaluation . Background paper for In-BC Cluster Evaluation session at the In-BC Interprofessional Network of BC workshop. Vancouver, BC.
Abstract:
This paper provides an overview of how self-organizing social systems function along side planned predictable systems. It is based on theories derived from research on complex adaptive systems and applied to the evaluation of partnerships and large scale initiatives.
View/download this article in the following formats: PDF, MS Word. Or click here to return to the list above.
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Logic Models But Were Afraid to Ask
Schmitz, C. & Parsons, B.A. (1999)
This paper was funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) under a contract to InSites, a Colorado-based non-profit 501(c)3 organization.
Abstract:
This paper addresses situations where a private foundation designs an initiative and awards grants to a number of sites to participate in the initiative in their local setting. The basic ideas are applicable to other situations.
View/download this article in the following formats: PDF, MS Word. Or click here to return to the list above.
Making Logic Models More Systemic: An Activity
Parsons, B.A. ( 1999, November)
This paper was prepared for the 1999 American Evaluation Association annual meeting, Orlando, FL.
Abstract:
This handout focuses on moving from a basic logic model of an initiative to one that takes into account the dynamics of the social systems that the initiative is designed to influence. The handout has a basic model that was built using the perspective presented in the paper, Everything You Wanted to Know About Logic Models But Were Afraid to Ask.
View/download this article in the following formats: PDF, MS Word. Or click here to return to the list above.
Contrasting School-University Partnerships with Community-University Partnerships
Parsons, B.A. (1999, April) Questions Raised By Contrasting School-University Partnerships with Community-University Partnerships. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Montreal, Canada.
Abstract:
This paper looks at three strategies used within a cluster of community-university partnerships to bring about a change in how social service workers are educated and work with communities. The strategies are labeled as the professional strategy, community strategy and community-professional collaboration strategy. The paper shows how the school-university partnership being studies fits into the professional strategy and raises questions about whether the school-university partnership should consider other strategies.
View/download this article in the following formats: PDF, MS Word. Or click here to return to the list above.
Progress and Promise: Shaping Long-Term Social Change Through Evaluation of Professional Development
Parsons, B.A. (1998, November). Progress and Promise: Shaping Long-Term Social Change Through Evaluation of Professional Development. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Evaluation Association, Chicago, IL.
Abstract:
This paper presents findings from the evaluation of a grant-making initiative of the National Foundation for the Improvement of Education. The initiative, entitled A Change of Course, focused on the conditions, practices, and policies needed to support high quality, sustained professional development for all teachers. It illustrates tools and perspectives InSites uses to analyze data and report evaluation findings.
View/download this article in the following formats: PDF, MS Word. Or click here to return to the list above.
Creating a Teacher Induction Program
Parsons, B.A. ( 2001) This paper was prepared under contract with the NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education, Washington, DC.
Abstract:
This paper discusses the usefulness of induction, managing induction programs, current induction models, and characteristics of effective induction programs. It provides promising examples based on the experiences of NFIE grantees.
View/download this article in the following formats: PDF, MS Word. Or click here to return to the list above.
The Stages of Systemic Change
Anderson (Parsons), B.L. (1993). The Stages of Systemic Change. Educational Leadership. 51 (1), 14-17.
Abstract:
This article describes six stages of systemic change and six components of the education system that typically need to change to revitalize education systems.
View/download this article in the following formats: PDF, MS Word. Or click here to return to the list above.
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