Applying the Joint Committee's 1994 Standards in International Contexts: A Case Study of Education Evaluations in Bangladesh

Abstract

This case study examines the applicability of 1994 standards, offered by the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation, to evaluations conducted in international contexts. The work is undertaken in response to an open invitation from the Joint Committee in its 1994 publication. The article addresses two purposes. First, it asks whether the standards in the four broad areas—utility, feasibility, propriety, and accuracy—can be applied as written to guide and monitor evaluation practices in developing countries when the programmatic focus and evaluation models, including relationships among sponsors, program participants, stakeholders, and evaluators, vary significantly from the assumptions underlying the 1994 standards. Second, it develops and refines methods for conducting metaevaluations of international evaluations by analyzing documentary and interview-based data from one case, represented by series of connected studies on education and health literacy programs in Bangladesh. The findings set the stage for more informed discussions on the robustness of existing standards and on the need for continuing case studies toward generating a revised or new set of standards for international evaluations in diverse fields, programs, and policy areas. The 1994 standards are presently undergoing revision by a task force of the American Evaluation Association.