What should school-based evaluation look like?

In this article, we report the results of an instrumental, mixed methods case study (Stake, 1995) of a culturally responsive school-based evaluation initiative. In studying culturally responsive school-based evaluation, we found some broader issues with school-based evaluation more generally. These challenges include what knowledge schools need to engage in evaluation, organizational constraints which impact what models are appropriate for school-based evaluation approaches, and the meanings of culture. Teachers and principals clearly understood culture in a different way after participating in school-based culturally responsive evaluation. However, more theoretical work and field studies will need to be conducted to further assess being culturally responsive in evaluation.