Challenging evaluation to the cross-cultural test: Program evaluation in cross-cultural settings

The author cites the recent emergence of two new fields in education: evaluation and international education. Each has developed unique methodologies in its area of most concern. Evaluators judge the process and output of national programs; international educators plan for programs overseas. Although the author believes such developments should be complementary, the professions have remained relatively isolated from one another in two distinct regards: as practitioners in a single field, and in the manner in which they train students. Drawing upon personal experience, the author illustrates how current evaluation methods fail to provide adequate guidance in cross-cultural settings. The author further identifies issues, poses questions, and calls for increased cooperation between fields of evaluation and international education as well as across the social science disciplines.