Performance Evaluation: Proven Approaches for Improving Program and Organizational Performance

EVALUATION STANDARDS

Although meta-evaluation has perhaps been around almost as long as evaluation, evaluators began to discuss it formally only in the 1960s (Fitzpatrick, Sanders, & Worthen, 2004). Some of the most noted early work includes that of Scriven (1967, 1974), Stake (1970), and Stufflebeam (1968). Most evaluators were in favor of evaluating the quality of an evaluation and directed adopted meta-evaluation as a guide or standard to be in partnership with the consumers of evaluations, so that evaluations that were wasteful and added little value could be avoided. As the criteria and lists for judging the quality of an evaluation increased, so did confusion among evaluators and consumers of evaluation about which was indeed the most useful ...