The use of Middle States evaluation recommendations
Abstract
The central issue of the study was the use of Middle States recommendations by secondary schools as well as the factors that affect the use of recommendations. The investigation also targeted the development of grounded theory that emerged from the data across cases. And finally, the study sought to construct hypotheses extracted from the theory to be tested in future research in the use of evaluation information. Four secondary school--two public and two private--served as the case studies for the investigation. Four major findings were reported: (1) The Use of Middle States Recommendations. A total of 428 recommendations were analyzed in the study. Of this number 268 (63%) were used in whole or in part; 38 (9%) were acknowledged as needed, but had not yet been implemented; 6 (1%) had not yet been considered; 108 (25%) had been considered and rejected; 8 (2%) recommendations had been in place at the item of the evaluation visit; (2) Factors Affecting the Use of Recommendations. Three factors were identified as affecting the use of Middle States recommendations. They are: (a) the disposition of the principal; (b) the predisposition of the school; and (c) the position of the recommendation; (3) Grounded Theory on Evaluation Use. The theory that emerged from investigation into the analytical framework was: the more a recommendation was endorsed by both the principal and the school at large, was timely, not costly, complex, or judgmental, the more likely the recommendation would be used; and (4) The Construction of Hypotheses. Two hypotheses were constructed: (1) A recommendation supported by the principal and school, identified by the school as needed at or before the on-site visit, that was not costly, complex, or judgmental was likely to be used; and (2) A recommendation not supported by the principal or school, not identified by the school as needed at or before the on-site visit, that was costly, complex, and judgmental was not likely to be used. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)
Subject Area
School administration
Recommended Citation
Scanlon, James Michael McLoughlin, "The use of Middle States evaluation recommendations" (1989). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI8918459.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI8918459
