At this point it is important to differentiate between evaluation and assessment. Within the discipline of evaluative sciences, there are no consensual definitions for evaluation or assessment. There are over sixty terms interchangeably used for evaluation alone, including adjudge, appraise, analyze, assess, critique, benchmark, grade, inspect, judge, rate, validate, score, synthesize, etc. (Scriven, 2000). The following definitions are proposed for all activities and discussions of evaluation and assessment within this document and SPAHP:
Assessment is the process of collecting information about a student and/or program to aid in decision making about the progress and development of the student and/or program (Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation, 2003).
Evaluation is the systematic investigation of the worth or merit of an object (e.g., a program, project, or instructional material) and/or student performance in relation to a set of expectations or standards (Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation, 2003).
Thus, assessment involves the actual data collection and analyses (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods) of programmatic- and school-specific information related to the stated mission and vision of SPAHP. Evaluation guides the development and implementation of all assessment activities by determining the standards for interpreting the results, and their value, quality, utility, effectiveness, and significance. Evaluation leads to recommendations for optimizing the professional education of students and provides stakeholders evidence from which to determine the worth of further adoption, continuation, modification, and expansion of programs within SPAHP.
References:
Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation. (2003). The Student Evaluation Standards, Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Scriven, M. (2000). Cited in Patton, M.Q. Overview: Language matters (p. 7). In R.K. Hopson (Ed.), How and why language matters in evaluation. New Directions for Evaluation, No. 86, 5-16. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.