Evaluation as a Developmental Process: The Case of Liberal Education

The Review of Higher Education Summer 1982, Volume 5, No. 4 Pages 245-258 Copyright® 1982 Association for the Study of Higher Education All Rights Reserved EVALUATION AS A DEVELOPMENTAL PROCESS: THE CASE OF LIBERAL EDUCATION Terry Heitz Rogers Zelda F. Gamson What does anyone mean by a ‘liberal education’? People shift their ground when they try to explain what it is and why it is so important. It’s hard to tell whether they’re talking about subjects that can be studied in school . . .; a process of learning or thinking; or a personal trans­ formation; or a value system to which the wise and honest can repair. (Bird, 1975, p. 106) How does one go about evaluating something that cannot even be defined? This essay describes National Project IV: Examining the Varieties of Liberal Education, which was an attempt to bring some clarity to the murky rhetoric surrounding liberal education (Gamson, forthcoming). First we present an account of the project and the problems we encountered in penetrating the language of liberal education. Then, on the basis of an analysis of these problems, we propose a perspective on evaluation that solves some of them. The Project’s Background In 1979 the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) sponsored a two-year project on liberal education in response to the renewal of interest in the undergraduate curriculum during the 1970’s. National Project IV; Examining the Varieties of Liberal Education included a diverse set of Terry Heitz Rogers is a graduate student andformer project associate on National Project IV and Zelda F. Gamson is professor ofhigher education, both at the Centerfor the Study ofHigher Education, University of Michigan. 225 226 The Review of Higher Education programs at 14 colleges and universities, each represented by a project As­ sociate. A Resource Institution, the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Michigan, provided technical assistance and coordinated project activités.1 National Project IV had three primary goals: 1) to clarify the meaning of liberal education, 2) to examine liberal education in each of the 14 programs, and 3) to promote collaboration among Associates and between Associates and the Resource Institution. The first two goals were meant to inform each other: as the meaning of liberal education became clearer, the evaluations would become focused; and as the evaluations produced findings, the un­ derstanding of liberal education would become sharper. This ideal was rarely a reality, since we encountered persistent difficulties that arose both from the nature of liberal education and the state of evaluation in liberal education. One could not imagine a more diverse set of schools and programs than the 14 F1PSE collected under the label of “ liberal education.” 2 There were two community colleges, six four-year colleges, and six universities, evenly split between public and private institutions. Three were highly selective, and five more essentially had open admissions. Half had fewer than 2,000 stu­ dents, and the enrollments of the rest varied widely. No two programs taught the same content or organized courses according to the same rubric. Saint Joseph's College and Brooklyn College had com­ pletely specified core curricula, while the others allowed some student choice among requirements. A few allowed students to design their own courses of study. The diversity among students in the 14 schools was almost as wide as the differences in their curricula. The majority of the students in 6 programs— at Hofstra, Oklahoma, Nebraska, New York City Technical College. Radcliffe , and Johnson State College—were over 22. Northwestern’s Program on Women and Radcliffe’s served women almost exclusively. Programs at New York City Technical College, Talladega, SUNY-Old Westbury. and Brooklyn enrolled large proportions of minority students. Hofstra's included union members; New York City Technical College's included retired people. SUNY-Old Westbury, Brooklyn, Northern Virginia Community College, and Hofstra had programs that provided the opportunity to attend college for people who needed extra academic help. Such differences among the fourteen in­ stitutions and their curricula and students complicated considerably the search for a shared understanding of liberal education and appropriate evalution strategies. The Project’s Examination Process National Project IV was a strange...