ABSTRACT
That there is an intimate relationship between the assumptions and procedures employed to assess educational effectiveness and the kinds of programs schools offer is known to all familiar with the forces affecting schools. 1 It is my argument that the assumptions and procedures used in conventional forms of educational evaluation have, in the main, been parochial. They represent an extremely narrow conception of the way in which educational evaluation can be pursued. A wider, more generous conception of educational evaluation is badly needed. This paper defines the contours of such a conception.
