Evaluation in Education

During the last years evaluation has become a key term in educational policies as well as in educational institutions and single schools. But there has not yet been a sufficient analysis and reflection of the underlying epistemic foundations and ethical principles nor practical strategies and problems. The research endeavour aims to analyse and discuss these questions in a broad approach. Therefore the project consists of tree parts: a theoretical, an empirical and a practical one. The theoretical part focuses on historical and systematical reconstructions, how evaluation has been introduced into educational policies, science and practice. What ist the meaning of evaluation? Which kinds of evaluation can be distinguished? What are the epistemic, ethical and value bases of current evaluational practice? What solutions are found for the necessarily arising dilemmas in carrying out evalution studies? The analyses will yield a definition of the term and set of criteria for describing and analysing recent evaluation studies. The empirical part aims to analyse and evaluate the current practice of evaluation, especially in Austria. The main focus will be on the in-depth-analysis of the most important evaluation studies with respect to their metatheoretical bases, methodological approaches and practical strategies. There will also be analyses of the legal basis of evaluation as well as investigations about the handling of evaluations in press media (school rankings, f.i.). In a second empirical study the impacts of will be anlysed with respect to the effects evaluations have on decisions and future developments of the institution. The practical part of the project aims to work out a "general practical theory" including rules for carrying out evaluation studies, especially for handling the arising dilemmas, and to develop prototypical scenarios, which can function as a model in practical situations. Corresponding to the global dimension of the project a multimethod approach combining historical analyses, content analyses, qualitative interviews and empirical metaanalysis is applied. There will also be interviews conceived according to the principles of oral history with prominent representatives of politics, science, and administration in the domain of education. The project will last for three years.