Meaning and Definition of Evaluation:

The term evaluation is derived from the word ‘valoir’ which means ‘to be
worth’. Thus, evaluation is the process of judging the value or worth of an
individual’s achievements or characteristics. In broad sense, educational
evaluation is concerned with judging the value or worth of the goals attained
by the educational system.

Ralph Tyler defines evaluation as “ the process of determining to

what extent the educational programme’s objectives are being realised.”

PROGRAM EVALUATION: It is the assessment of the all components of the

program from program planning through implementation to determine
program effectiveness.

General Principles of Evaluation-

The following principles proposed by groundlund will form a general

framework within which the ongoing process of evaluation may be viewed,

 Determining and clarifying what is to be evaluated always has priority in

the evaluation: No evaluation device should be selected or developed
until the purpose of evaluation have been carefully defined. In
evaluating pupil progress, this means that the first step is to identify and
clearly specify the learning outcomes to be measured.
 Evaluation technique should be selected according to the purpose to be
served: When the particular aspect of the pupil performance to be
evaluated has been precisely defined, the evaluation technique that is
most appropriate for evaluating the performance should be selected.
 Comprehensive evaluation requires a variety of evaluation techniques:
No single evaluation technique is adequate for appraising for pupil
toward all of the important outcomes of the instruction. In fact, most
evaluation techniques are rather limited in scope. To obtain a complete
picture of pupil achievement, we typically need to combine the results
from a variety of techniques.
  Proper use of evaluation technique requires an awareness of both their
limitation and strength: Evaluation techniques vary from fairly well
developed measuring instruments, however fall far short of the
precision we would like them to have, as all are subject to one or more
types of error.
 Evaluation is a meant to end, not an end itself: The use of evaluation
techniques implies that some useful purpose will be served and that the
user is clearly aware of it. Most of the misuses of tests and other
evaluation techniques can be avoided by viewing evaluation as a process
of obtaining information on which to base educational decisions. This
implies that the types of decisions to be made will be identified before
the evaluation procedures are selected so that the evaluation procedure
will be selected according to the decision to be made and that no
evaluation procedure will be used unless it improves instructional,
guidance or administrative decisions.

Characteristics of Evaluation:

From an analysis of the above sais principles, we can make out the following
characteristics of evaluation-

 Evaluation is a continuous process: Evaluation is a continuous process, it

forms an integral part of the total systems of education and is intimately
related educational objectives. It exercises a great influence on the
pupils study habits and teachers method of instruction and helps not
only measures educational achievements but also improve it.
 Evaluation includes academic and non-academic subject: Evaluation in
its broader concept includes evaluation of academic and non-academic
aspects of education. In examination and measurement the emphasis is
upon the academic subjects only, whereas evaluation covers all the
changes that take place in the development of balanced personality.
 Evaluation is the procedure for improving the product: Evaluation is a
process of making judgements that are to be used as a basis for
planning. It is a procedure for improving the product , the process and
even the goals themselves.
  Discovering of needs of an individual and designing learning experiment:
Chester observes that the purpose of any programme of evaluation is to
discover the needs of individuals being evaluated and then to design
learning experiences that will solve these needs.
 Evaluation is purpose oriented: Evaluation should be conceived primarily
in terms of purposes which the process of evaluation is intended to
serve.

Purpose of Evaluation:

 Facilitate learning.
 Diagnose problems.
 Make decision.
 Improve products.
 Judge effectiveness.

Benefits of Evaluation of Educational Programme in Nursing: The purpose of

evaluation in educational programme –

 To judge the merit or worth of the total program being evaluated.

 To determine whatever the program has been implemented as planned.
 To determine how various elements of program interrelated to the
program effectiveness.
 To determine the mission and goals of the program are being realized.
 To identify efficient use of resources to assess and improve program
quality.
 To provide decision making that how to improved program
effectiveness.
 To provide the additional motivation of examinations that provide
opportunity to practice critical thinking , the application of principles,
the making of judgement, etc.
 To estimate the effectiveness of teaching and learning techniques, of
subject content and of instructional media in attaining the goals of the
programme.
 To gather information needed for administrative purposes.
Functions of Evaluation:

According to k. Soman, function of evaluation can be divided into two major

categories-

1. Functions Related to Instructional process:

 Measurement function- As said earlier at accurate and reliable
measures of a variety of attributes associated with physical and
psychological development of the learner act as the basis for
evaluation. Of these, for the ordinary classroom teacher,
measuring the attainment of instructional objectives is of primary
concern and importance.
 Diagnostic function- The results obtained through evaluation
helps in determining the cause of persistent learning difficulties
related to intellectual, physical, emotional and environmental
reason .
 Guidance and remediation- The function of educational evaluation
is natural extension of the diagnostic function. Once the causes of
learning difficulties are diagnosed, the teacher can help the
student by adopting appropriate remedial measure.
 Motivating functions- The knowledge that one is going to be
evaluated itself creates a feeling of mild anxiety. This will in turn
act as a motivating force that promotes systematic learning. It is
harmful only when the anxiety grows to undesirable levels. In the
case of achievers, the thrill of success and the resulting self
esteem further contributes to systematic learning.
 Assessment of the final output- The function of the evaluation
discussed till now have been those aiming at leading the learner
towards this ultimate goal.
 Classification and placement- For many purposes, students of a
particular group will have to be classified on the basis of their level
of attainment and other abilities.
  Prognosis, prediction and selection- This aims at determining the
prerequisites possessed by a student, which are essential to
succeed in a course of study that he is intended to take up.

2. Functions Related to total education system: While discussing the

broader scope of educational evaluation, it was pointed out that it
covers program evaluation, institutional evaluation, evaluation of the
performance of the personnel concerned, etc. Educational evaluation
has to take up functions for the batterment of this system as a whole-
 Improvement of inputs and process of education- The inputs of
education system include items like the curriculum, textbooks,
teaching aids, infrastructure facilities, environmental conditions,
expertise of the teachers, social support, etc. All these are to be
utilized for the has to be achieved to the maximum level possible,
the inputs should be pooled and processed systematically. This
could be done only on the basis of the objectives formulated as
well as the feedback obtained from the final evaluation of pupil
performance.
 Maximization of the output- This function of educational
evaluation is a natural extension of the previous one. By
improving inputs and process, by setting high but realistic targets
and by ensuring progress through diagnosis, remediation and
reinforcement educational evaluation contributes to the student
development.

Types of Evaluation:

1. Formative Evaluation: Formative evaluation is used to monitor

learning progress during instruction and to provide continuous
feedback to both pupil and teacher regarding learning success and
failures.
 2. Summative Evaluation: Summative evaluation typically comes at the
end of the course or unit of instruction. It is designed to determine
the extent to which the instructional objectives have been achieved
and is primarily for assessing course grades or certifying pupil
mastery of the intended learning outcomes.

3. Maximum Performance Evaluation: Maximum performance

evaluation determines what individual can do when performing at
their best. Evaluation of this type is concerned with determining a
person’s abilities and how well an individual performs when
motivated obtain as a high score as possible.

4. Typical performance Evaluation: Typical performance evaluation

determines what individuals will do under natural conditions, i.e.
their typical behaviour.

5. Criterion Referenced Evaluation: This determines pupil performance

according to a specified domain of clearly defined learning tasks.

6. Norm- Referenced valuation: Norm referenced evaluation describes

pupil performance according to relative position in some known
groups, example- ranks tenth in a classroom group of 30.

Techniques of Evaluation Educational programme:

 Written examination
 Oral examination
 Practical Examination
 Interviews
 Observation
  Projective techniques
 Sociometric techniques

TOOLS OF EVALUATION OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMME:

 Test-
 Written test
 Oral test
 Performance test
 Diagnostic test
 Intelligence test
 Aptitude test

 Anecdotal records
 Check list
 Cumulative records
 Interview schedule
 Inventories
 Questionnaires
 Rating scales

COMPONENTS FOR EVALUATION OF NURSING EDUCATION:

1. Mission and Goal-

 The nursing advisory committee has meaningful input in to
program goal outcome.
 Accrediting bodies have expectation about program.
 Document and publication.
2. Curriculum Evaluation-
 The program goals, mission philosophy link to the curriculum
design, teaching and learning methods and outcome.
A) Evaluation of Educational Organization-
a) Principle of internal consistency:
  Congruence between the objectives and goals to the mission and
belief statement.
 Curriculum matrix.
 Curriculum audit.
b) Principle of linear concruence:
 Assessment of program skills.
B) Course Evaluation- Collection of data from faculty students and
materials.
C) Evaluation of support courses and the liberal education foundation.
3. Evaluation of Teaching Effectiveness-
 Student evaluation of teaching strategies.
 Peer review of teaching strategies.
 Evaluation of teaching learning, materials.
 Formal measures for evaluating strategies.
 Assessment of student learning.
 Evaluating the student performance measures.
4. Student Dimension-
 Admission policy.
 Records of student’s satisfaction and formal complaints.
 Internal method.
5. Faculty Dimension-
 Qualification of faculty member.
 Professional experience of faculty.
 Faculty scholarship.
6. Delivery Mode Dimension-
 Classroom and laboratory facilities.
 Clinical facilities.
 Information and instructional technology.
 Library service and holdings.
7. Micro context Dimension-
 Transcript evaluation.
 New student registration.
 Orientation of program.
 Academic advising and advising records.
  Student receive final preparation after program completion.
8. Macro context Dimension-
 Trends in health care.
 Changes in health care delivery system.
 Trends in higher education and implication.
9. Organization-
 Qualification of program administrators.
 Structure and governance of department.
 Adequate fiscal structure.
 Participation of nursing faculty in the university governing system.
 Adequate number of qualified staff and professional personal.
10. Inter organizational Dimension-
 Advisory boards.
 Articulation agreement.
11. Outcome Evaluation-
 Student achievements of all terminal goals.
 Technical competencies.
 Satisfaction of employees with the performance of graduates.
 Student satisfaction by the quality of the program.
12. Intervening mechanism variable-
 Intervening variables are defined for all program outcome.
 Determination of potential intervening variables.
13.Generalization of Education-
 Assessment strategies are reliable and valid.
 Evaluation activities provide meaningful data for program
improvement.
 The evaluation plan is modified and reviewed to improve the
effectiveness.