How to Fix Our Approach to Evaluation Research in Jewish Education – and Why We Need To

Published: 
February 20, 2012

Source: eJewish Philanthropy

 

Eran Tamir, a senior research associate at the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University, criticizes research methods currently employed in evaluation research of Jewish education initiatives. He suggests that researchers should build on each other’s work and create over time well-established and validated measures, ultimately yielding more dependable information regarding program impact, inform funding decisions, and advance knowledge and understanding.

 

He suggests:

"In order to facilitate this process, when funders commission a piece of evaluation research, they should require evaluators to review past evaluations and look for appropriate measures to include in the current study. In addition, Jewish education needs a responsible body to collect and store searchable data and instruments from old and new evaluations. … Next, evaluators and researchers who receive funding could be required to list the names of their new projects, the type of questions they are trying to answer, and the methods and instruments they will use. Once the evaluation study is complete, researchers would be required to share their instruments and findings. Establishing a common repository – and requiring researchers to use it – could address the current problems of both vast inefficiencies and the lost opportunity to gather valuable information that could improve the quality of decisions and programs in the field."

 

See the entire post on eJewish Philanthropy.

Updated: Feb. 29, 2012
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