A critical study of criteria and procedures for the comprehensive evaluation of modern junior high schools, with particular reference to the development of an action program for the J. B. Mitchell School

Abstract

This thesis reports a study in the theory and practice of total school- evaluation at the junior high level. Originating in the context of a principal's responsibility for directing the continuous evaluation and improvement of his school, this inquiry had a twofold purpose: (1) to find the means to guide the continued development of a junior high school in the Manitoba setting; (2) to employ those techniques 1n the preparation of an initial self-evaluation program for the J.B. Mitchell Junior High School. An analysis of the problem showed that comprehensive evaluation, with its implications for action, is the practical way of guiding the continued development of a modern junior high school; moreover, that an evaluation program would require an instrument with three principal components; (1) an outline or other organization of critica1 features-- provisions or conditions that indicate qualitative differences in schools; (2) a corresponding framework of evaluative criteria--standards that can be used to appraise the critical features; (3) a practical procedure-- techniques that can be employed by a principal and his staff to evaluate their own school. With respect to the second objective, limitations of time and resources precluded a comprehensive evaluation of the J.B. Mitchell School. Instead, it was necessary for the writer to plan and administer a survey-type examination of the total school situation, and to include as results of this tentative appraisal both plans for direct action and recommendations for further investigation. This inquiry initially involved the study of two kinds of evalution literature: the special references on total-school evaluation at the secondary level, and a representative selection of present-day manuals designed for self-evaluation programs in junior high schools. From those sources the investigator derived the practical instrument for a self-evaluation project at J.B. Mitchell School. As neither the general literature on total-school evaluation nor the available manuals could supply adequate evaluative criteria for junior high schools, the theory phase had to be extended to include a survey of the history and philosophy of this special school for early adolescents and an analysis of books and periodicals reflecting current thinking about its basic aims, primary functions, and desirable features...