Chapter 9 Richards

Well, lets not monkey around, and get right to the point here: Chapter 9 is all about evaluating curriculum. Some people might find this chapter a little dull, but not me--I spend many hours a year analyzing and evaluating literacy programs in our district, so this stuff is right up my alley. Reflecting and Evaluating are essential to designing a successful program. The chapter covers three types of evaluations: Formative, Illuminative, and Summative.

Formative evaluations are ones that take place as part of an on-going process, so that if weaknesses are noticed they can be fixed, and the program will be strengthened as you go. Our district uses these type of evaluations to monitor programs, especially those that are newly implemented, by gaining feedback from teachers primarily through video-conferences, and e-mail correspondence. District staff, such as the curriculum director, and myself also make site visits and work with teachers throughout the year as a way to evaluate how programs are working.

The second type of evaluation is Illuminative. This type of evaluation is looking at specific aspects of a program, to see how they are being implemented, and if they are effective. This type of evaluation is probably more common in a classroom level. Teachers might want to see how a specific part of their reading or writing program are working--are they meeting the district standards? Are students able to demonstrate proficiency in that area?

The third type of evaluation the chapter talks about is Summative Evaluation. This is where a program is evaluated after it has been implemented to determine whether it was effective, efficient, and acceptable. This is the type of evaluation I have to do for the reporting required for the grants I monitor. I have to do annual performance reports and determine whether our programs have met the objectives that were set.

The rest of the chapter gives a John Deere Loader full of short summaries of procedures that can be used in conducting evaluations (a handy chapter for someone designing a research project), and tells the advantages and disadvantages of each. Overall, I found that this chapter is another good resource--something I can use not only for designing my research activities, but something I could refer to when planning out my evaluations for curriculum and programs next year.

Richards, Jack, C. (2001). Approaches to evaluation. In Curriculum development in language teaching. (pp.286-309). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Cordially yours,
Ms. R M

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