ABSTRACT
This conference provides a good opportunity for reflection on the past, present, and future of our evaluation profession. As Scriven has suggested, evaluation necessarily involves the selection of criteria, standards, and evaluation processes. My questions have been: Whose criteria? Whose standards? Will it be feasible to perform the evaluation in terms of those criteria and standards? How will the evaluation information be used? In particular, will evaluation information be used to improve the policies and programs evaluated? To enhance the likelihood that evaluation will be used to improve programs, I have been especially interested in evaluation efforts that provide timely feedback on program performance in terms of criteria that key stakeholders consider relevant.
