Truth, Its Beauty, and Its Justice: Reconceptualizing How Stories Are Told in Educational Evaluation

Session Type: Working Group Roundtable

Abstract

House’s (1980) focus on the standards of truth, beauty, and justice in evaluation proposed new ways for thinking about validity through the complexities of argumentation and logic. In educational evaluation, and across the field, we learn our truths from all aspects of the evaluands, contexts, and stakeholders involved in our work. However, how often do we consider whose truths are valued? How do we ensure that, in our desire for beauty, we are still focused on justice through amplifying all voices and their contexts across our work, rather than disconnected and isolated data points? This session will focus on how we as evaluators can help to keep the focus on what is—and WHO is—the truth in our practice.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Research on Evaluation

Chair

• Leigh M. Tolley, Mercy University

Papers

• Sharing—and Actively Listening to—the Stories of Teacher Education - Leigh M. Tolley, Mercy University; Elizabeth A. Grossie, Elevate K-12

• Informing Education Systems Through Indisputable Reality to Move Forward in a Good and Just Way - Keiko Kuji-Shikatani, Ontario Ministry of Education

• Mixed-Methods Approaches to Evaluation in an Educational Setting for Effective and Holistic Storytelling - George Chitiyo, Tennessee Technological University; Kinsey Simone, Tennessee Technological University; Michael Danquah, University of Tennessee; Marlana R. Lastres, Tennessee Tech University