Adelman, Clem

(b. 1942, Tring, England). Ph.D. Science Education, London University; B.Sc. Education, London University.

Adelman began teaching about and doing researchand evaluation in 1964. Since 1972 he has worked at [Page 11]the Center for Applied Research in Education (CARE), University of East Anglia, United Kingdom, and has also held appointments at the University of Reading and the University of Trondheim in Norway.

At CARE, Adelman initially worked on the FordFoundation Teaching Project, which promoted self-evaluation and classroom action research, and then onan ethnographic study of 3- to 5-year-old children inschools. He became increasingly involved in evaluation problems arising from fieldwork and case studies, especially those in which the evaluators aspired to bedemocratic in their principles and conduct. He hasworked on various evaluations, including those concerning arts education; bilingual schooling in Boston, MA; assessment of oral English; school-industry links;and residential care for the handicapped.

His work on the feasibility of institutional self-evaluation has contributed to a broad understandingof how and why educational organizations engage inevaluation. His book (with Robin Alexander) Self-Evaluating Institution: Practice and Principles in the Management of Educational Change reflects thesecontributions. Some of his other books include ThePolitics and Ethics of Evaluation; Guide to ClassroomObservation (with Rob Walker); and the edited volume Uttering, Muttering: Collecting, Using and ReportingTalk for Social and Educational Research.

Adelman's work has been influenced by fellowevaluators Bob Stake, Barry McDonald, Ernie House, and Gene Glass, as well Bela Bartok, H. S. Becker, Ernest Gellner, Stephen J. Gould, Nat Hentoff, GeorgSimmel, and Spinoza.

Adelman has lived and worked in the south of France, Norway, northwest China, and Hungary. He isan accomplished saxophone player.