ABSTRACT
Evaluation and monitoring can be examined from a purely technical and methodological perspective. In this context, however, the emphasis is placed on the applied nature of M&E. This means that the integral function of M&E within the context of educational planning and management is at the center of attention. Speaking of an “integral function” of M&E is supported, first of all, by the realization that the evaluation and feedback function has a key role in meta-theories in the field of planning and management that all depend on the rationality paradigm. In this section a brief excursion will be made to explain the role of the evaluation function in each of these planning and management theories. After a reconsideration of more prescriptive applications of the rationality principles already introduced, three more specific interpretations will be discussed: synoptic rational planning, creating market mechanisms (or choice) and cybernetics. This latter mechanism is further elucidated by considering what is indicated as “retroactive planning” and placed in the context of organizational learning and the image of the learning organization. A critical look is taken at the validity and applicability of these theoretical constructs to the reality of schooling, by making a comparison with more traditional perspectives (of the school as a professional bureaucracy) and results from empirical school effectiveness research. The conclusion is that although schools do not confirm to the core principles of “learning organizations” in all and every way it is still a heuristically relevant image for the field of school improvement. Its key-mechanism of evaluation and feedback is considered of central importance to improving the responsiveness and instrumental effectiveness of schools.
