Research On The Credibility Of Education Evaluation

The Dissertation researches on the trust dilemma of education evaluation and the order construction based on the credibility improvement in the social transition, which is the challenging basic problem of the current evaluation and even education management. More researches on the evaluation credibility are very necessary and urgent. Based on the literature reviewing and analytical theorizing, along with open and semi-structured interviews, the integration of the multidisciplinary theory and knowledge, the author made a theoretical analysis of the "trust paradox "in the current practice of educational evaluation as well as relevant responses.The study firstly described the present "crisis of trust" and the "trust paradox" in educational evaluation practice, and pointed out the credibility absence dilemma of China’s education evaluation. Based on a detailed review of researches into trust development, the present study pinpointed the major issues in education credibility researches. As "credibility" is new in Chinese vocabulary, this study put more emphasis on defining "credibility" and the discrepancies between the term and related concepts, as well as its position in education evaluation concept map. The study also made a thorough analysis of the general appeal of credibility in education evaluation practice and its characteristics such as communality, relativity, comprehensiveness and arduousness in its improvement.Secondly, the study made an interpretative construction of the elements in the education evaluation credibility. Starting from the expectations by the counterparts, stakeholders, and the general public, the paper dwelled on such necessary qualities as honesty and credibility of the evaluation participants, fairness and accuracy, authority and stakes of the evaluation process, and involvement and negotiation as well as the general opinion guidance. The study also probed into the systematic social elements like traditional trust culture and its features, educational scale and value pluralism. The study found that the expectations of evaluation are being changed in the ongoing "de-administrationalization" transformation process, which led directly to the public trust structure changes in the education evaluation credibility. Analysis of the credibility elements paved the way for further discussion on the approaches to the betterment of education evaluation.Thirdly, supported by the Guba and Lincoln’s division about the four stages in the evaluation development, the study proposed that the trust point of education evaluation credibility corresponds to the measurement, description, judgment, and the value negotiation, and the public trust in the education evaluation allows for structural difference in "core" and "protection zone". Besides, the study outlined three type of credibility like deterrence credibility, criticism credibility, as well as self-induced credibility and respective characteristics and its role. This interpretation model emphasizes the necessity and importance of the distinction of the level and quality of structure. On this basis, the dissertation made a chronological analysis and cross-cultural comparison. The duality nature of credibility (the paradox of simultaneity of universal trust and general questioning) is also explained. With the progress of social transformation, the ability to question by the public and the general opinion environment will have an impact on the evaluation credibility.As trust issue is closely associated with education evaluation, the paper elaborated on the limited trust and its features. In light of the imperfection of human intelligence and virtue, the limited trust is reasonable in education evaluation, and enjoys a comparative advantage compared to the full trust and distrust. This research revealed the actual agglutination state of the distrust and trust in the evaluation practice, and sketched the asymmetry of the trust relationship. A theoretical analysis was given as to the education administration-evaluation mechanism based on the responsibility of schools, teachers&students and corresponding freedom. The study pointed out that the public property of education and academic requirements of the management body expects administrative bodies to perform bottom line supervisory duties in order to ensure a basic level of teaching and academic supply. On the basis of the qualification recognization, administrative-evaluation must be separated. The administrative bodies should be committed to the maintenance of education evaluation justice and order, and strictly refrained from interfering and controlling specific teaching and academic activities. The prevailing imbalance between administration and evaluation in present domestic education evaluation, the oversupply of performance evaluation contrasted with a severe shortage of accountability led to well-meant ruins. Education credibility is driven by trust and distrust. Distrust, as an external force, may not necessarily lead to the improvement of education evaluation theories and practice. The progress of education evaluation and improvement of credibility depends on the optimization of trust and dissolution of distrust. The new ideas help to clarify the misunderstandings on the credibility controversy, to recognize the potential value of distrust in public governance. The analysis and argument of the part is the important concepts and theoretical contribution, as well as an important supplement of the current trust research.Finally, the study proposed some strategies and approaches to the improvement of the education evaluation credibility from the paradigm shift and the system protection. Based on the trust enhancement, distrust dissolution and transcension, the study put forward the following six suggestions to improve the credibility in our educational evaluation. They are1) clarifying power and responsibility, standardizing evaluation power, perfecting education evaluation legislation and building law system;2) transforming administrative roles and strengthening supervision to safeguard order;3) developing an Education Evaluation Think Tanks to enhance the evaluation professional competence, and establishing the criteria to improve the fiduciary responsibility;4) reinforcing supervision to prevent moral hazards, shaping honest evaluation environment, enhancing ethical consciousness;5) stipulating implementation details, publicizing evaluation information, promoting faculty involvement, interactive consultation and properly guiding public opinions;6) establishing and improving the doubts-resolution mechanisms, such as an open marketplace of ideas, a favorable treatment of criticisms and questions, an addition of risk analysis, and proper establishment and improvement of meta-evaluation mechanism. Hopefully, these suggestions will serve as a good reference to relevant problems in our real life.