Paper on Empowering Education: A Consumer-Oriented Evaluation Perspective on Learners and Employers

Introduction

The planned evaluation approach utilized is consumer-oriented. Michael Scriven designed the evaluation model. According to the consumer-oriented evaluation technique, the consumer is the central focus of the evaluation process. Every activity impacts the consumers either directly or indirectly. Assessing the various actions using the consumer-oriented approach helps to determine how the consumers benefit from the projects. In the education sector, primary consumers are learners (Gallant et al., 2020). Thus, the evaluation process ought to assess how the skills obtained by a particular program are likely to benefit the students in their professional paths. The government and the education ministry must keep implementing new policies and adjusting the curriculum to meet the learners' needs.

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Also, the availability of learning resources must be evaluated to ensure the learning process is effective. Similarly, the employment sector can be classified as education consumers. The employer depends on the learning institutions to produce highly competent and productive learners who fit in their industries. All organizations have set rules and a set of skills that suit their preferred employers (Gallant et al., 2020). Therefore, the learning institutions' programs must offer the expertise to ensure the learners fit in the job markets. However, if the plans do not provide the skills needed in the various industries, various employers will have challenges in training the newly hired employees. Therefore, both students and employers ought to be immediate education consumers. Thus, the consumer-oriented evaluation approach should focus on both learners and employers.

Rationale and Research Support

The consumer-oriented evaluation techniques tend to focus on the consumers' needs, which may vary with that of the organization. In most cases, the education sector and the learning institutions tend to set similar goals for all learners. The set objectives tend to focus on the completion of the syllabus and ways to enhance the overall learners' performance. However, some learners are poor performers in various institutions. Despite the availability of all learning resources, the learners cannot perform as expected by the learning institution (Kivimaa et al., 2017). However, some of them have hidden talents that need to be developed in schools. If the education policies do not take into account the different learners' capabilities, then the consumer needs are not met. However, the use of the consumer-oriented approach helps to examine the effectiveness of learning programs to the student's needs.

Similarly, the approach involves the evaluation of the existing structures by the experts to determine their effectiveness. The standards of the structures are used in judging organizational performance. If the structures are not in line with the curriculum expectations, they are linked with the learners' poor performance. Also, if the organizational structures are above expectations, then the students' success is attributed to them (Kivimaa et al., 2017). Therefore, the outcome of the learning activities is directly linked to the organizational structures. Similarly, organizational structures determine if the learners' needs are achieved. Thus, the consumer evaluation takes into account all activities that pertain to the achievement of the learners' goals.

Major Areas

Primary areas have to be established when carrying out a consumer-oriented evaluation. One of the critical questions to ask while carrying out the assessment is; who the primary audience is in the evaluation process? The significant audience comprises the program sponsors, the school administrators, content specialists, learners, and tutors (Gallant et al., 2020). The subset questions include:

• What are the expectations of the program sponsors?
• Are the goals of the program sponsors in line with the learners' goals?
• Are the teachers well-equipped to deliver the learning content?

The second major area concerning consumer-oriented evaluation is the data source. The critical question is; what are the reliable data sources to utilize in the evaluation process? During the consumer-oriented evaluation, suitable data sources are needed to generate a reliable result. Some of the data sources include teachers, learners, past evaluation materials, parents, and curriculum developers (Gallant et al., 2020). The subset questions to include in the evaluation include:

• Do the learning activities suit your career goals?
• Do the past evaluation materials concur with the present findings?
• Are the learning activities in line with the curriculum developers' objectives?

The third major area is the primary challenges that hinder the achievement of the student's goals. The critical question is; What are the key issues affecting the content delivery and success of the education goals? Some of the key challenges are learning outcomes, processes, and resources (Kivimaa et al., 2017). The subset questions include:

• What are the expected outcomes of the learning program at the end of the year?
• Are the available resources sufficient for the learning activities?
• Do the implemented policies align with the curriculum expectations?

The Rationale and Research Support for the Question Areas

The questions are used to create a guideline on how the evaluation process will be carried out. The questions have tackled areas on data sources. Therefore, when starting the evaluation process, there is a list of specific persons to be contacted regarding the students' outcomes and curriculum effectiveness (Gallant et al., 2020). Thus, no time is wasted conducting questionnaires on persons who are not conversant with the education policies. Similarly, significant questions highlight the key areas to focus on during the evaluation process. Therefore, the questions serve as practical guidelines for the consumer-oriented evaluation process.

The education stakeholders include students, parents, tutors, administrators, curriculum developers, and program sponsors. The learners are the primary stakeholders- without their cooperation, the school cannot be run, and the education policies cannot be fully implemented. For the school to perform, all the stakeholders must be involved (Brown et al., 2020). Parents have to create a conducive environment at home for the learner to perform. Also, teachers and administrators must ensure the learning is suitable for the learners, and their goals are met. On the other hand, curriculum developers must liaise with the school to ensure the curriculum policies are fully implemented. The program sponsors are also responsible for the funding of learning activities (Brown et al., 2020). Therefore, all the stakeholders must be involved in performance evaluations by inviting them to board meetings.

References

Brown, C. P., Barry, D. P., Ku, D. H., & Englehardt, J. (2020). How Education Stakeholders Made Sense of the Types of Learning Experiences Children Are and Should Be Having in Kindergarten and Why. Early Education and Development, 1-32. science, 33, 115-127. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2017.09.002

Gallant, D. J., & Luthy, N. (2020). Mixed Methods Research in Designing an Instrument for Consumer-Oriented Evaluation. Journal of Multidisciplinary Evaluation, 16(34), 21-43. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-08-2018-0526

Kivimaa, P., Kangas, H. L., & Lazarevic, D. (2017). Client-oriented evaluation of ‘creative destruction ‘in policy mixes: Finnish policies on building energy efficiency transition. Energy research & social. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2020.1750292