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Leading Change Through Evaluation

Improvement Science in Action

Kristen L Rohanna author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:SAGE Publications Inc

Published:2nd Feb '22

Should be back in stock very soon

Leading Change Through Evaluation cover

Evaluators who are interested in developing or improving a program or policy frequently look to formative evaluation as a guiding framework. This book shows why those hoping to use evaluation to drive change in complex systems, rather than develop or improve one program, policy, or product, need to shift from the oversimplified idea of formative evaluation to a more specified continuous improvement model grounded in improvement science. In doing so, author Kristen L. Rohanna provides guidance to both evaluators and others, such as K-12 educators or hospital administrators, who lead improvement initiatives in their organizations and seek to solve persistent problems of practice. The book includes an extended case study: a networked improvement community of five public middle and high schools. 

"Leading Change Through Evaluation [provides] detailed description of how evaluation theories were implemented and tools from different fields were integrated with a specific context. It highlights the interpersonal and intrapersonal skills needed to translate and navigate the application of evaluation approaches in the real world and shows how the American Evaluation Association′s (2018) proposed evaluator competencies, such as those in the methodology and context domains, are connected. Rohanna also captures how soft skills, such as reflection and humility, are pivotal to evaluation efforts…. [The] book is a valuable contribution to the evaluation field, especially to graduate students and evaluators interested in learning the concepts of improvement science, evaluation capacity-building, and other approaches as well as details of how to put these evaluation approaches into practice."

-- American Journal of Evaluation
This is a very well-written, well-researched, practical text for future researchers. -- Bret D. Cormier
This book is an intimate, honest and real-world introduction to the use of formative evaluation practices for continuous improvement in a school system. The author’s first-hand account provides actionable tools as well as demonstration of their application in practice. The book is both theoretical and applied, which makes it a useful handbook for those who are engaged in continuous improvement of complex systems. -- Dasha Shamrova
This text teaches change processes through an overarching case example, which makes the concepts more accessible and understandable as students see how things are actually applied. -- John B. Stark
This book provides an insightful journey from improvement science through complex system change. The case study presented allows readers to reflect on their own journeys in evaluation and change within the complex systems that we often dismiss. -- Wesley Wilson
This text uses real-life examples to apply theory and emphasize the important role of continuous improvement in public and nonprofit programs. -- Ryan Y

ISBN: 9781071847862

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 250g

176 pages