Ethics
The truth is that external evaluators are not regulated in any way. They are not licensed. There is no formal certification and no standard course of training in which all evaluators must participate. While there are standards of ethics for evaluators, many educational program evaluators do not belong to formal evaluation associations and, as a result, they are unaware of these standards. Essentially anyone can call himself an evaluator and provide any level of services he wishes. While there are some programs that develop state approved lists of external evaluators, most programs do not do this, so the only way you know if someone is qualified to work as an evaluator is if you do your homework.
Conduct a thorough interview. Check references. I have talked with many people who have learned the importance of this the hard way.
Include questions about ethics and confidentiality in your interview. When you check references, ask about ethics. You need to know that your data will not be used for any purpose other than your evaluation.
Keep your eyes open for practices that may seem questionable. I am not talking about illegal practices, but those that could be construed as a little shady in some situations. Some of these include:
Multi-year contracts. There are some situations in which a multi-year contract is appropriate, but anything over a 2-3 year contract could be suspect. Do you really know that this person will be the right person for you five years from now? If not, why commit to that now? If you both are happy with the relationship, you will be able to renew your contract each year.
Substituting another evaluator when you agreed to work with someone else. Some firms will send one evaluator to the interview and then send another to provide the actual services. Sometimes the second evaluator is just as competent as the first, but sometimes the opposite is true. Be sure to ask about exactly who will be doing the work and his or her qualifications. There are cases when a firm may bring on some new evaluators and need to shift assignments mid-year. If this is the case, interview the new evaluator and make sure your expectations for service are very clear. If you do not want this to happen to you, write in your contract that substitutions of evaluators will not be accepted unless you specifically approve of the evaluator.
Claiming special privilege for missed deadlines. Every now and then you'll meet an evaluator who will miss a deadline and then claim that it is OK because he "knows people who will take care of it" at the funding source. While there are many reasons why a deadline may be missed -some of them acceptable- a good evaluator will rarely misses a deadline and if he or she does miss a deadline, you will know about it well in advance. Remember, your reputation with your community, your school board, and your funding source is at stake when deadlines are missed.
In spite of the need to be concerned about these issues, do not assume that all evaluators are unethical and unqualified. That is not the case. A highly trained and experienced professional evaluator could be the best thing that ever happened to your program.
