Objectives-Based Evaluation

Objectives-based evaluation refers to a class of evaluation approaches that centers on the specification of objectives and the measurement of outcomes. Specifically, objectives-based evaluation (sometimes referred to as objectives-oriented or objectivesreferenced evaluation) focuses on generating information for accountability and decision making by developing and measuring the appropriate objectives for these purposes.

Ralph Tyler, often noted as the father of educational evaluation, has been credited with being a principal proponent of objectives-based evaluation approaches. Tyler, in his seminal 1942 manuscript General Statement on Evaluation, states that objectivesbased evaluation entails (a) formulating a statement of educational objectives, (b) classifying these objectives into major types, (c) defining and refining each of these types of objectives in terms of behavior, (d) identifying situations in which students can be expected to display these types of behaviors, (e) selecting and trying promising methods for obtaining evidence regarding each type of objective, (f) selecting on the basis of preliminary trials the more promising appraisal methods for further development and improvement, and (g) devising means for interpreting and using the results. This approach of linking program objectives to outcome measures organized the tasks and goals of educational evaluation in a framework that was the dominant paradigm for almost half a century.

Tyler's influential work on the Eight Year Study, a longitudinal study of progressive education through the 4 years of secondary school and the 4 years of college, was the first large-scale evaluation to be designed using such an approach. This study, for a number of reasons (only one of which is the evaluation approach), has been noted as one of the most significant evaluations of the 20th century. Indeed, Madaus and Stufflebeam, in their 1989 book Educational Evaluation: Classic Works of Ralph W. Tyler, state, “Tyler's work on the Eight Year Study is still the best available description of how evaluators can work cooperatively with teachers to clarify instructional objectives and develop indicators of students' continuous progress toward the mastery of a whole range of learning outcomes” (p. xii).