Evaluation of educational management. reflections

Introduction

This document attempts to answer the question posed in the title How can we evaluate management? , understood that the concept of evaluation is one of the broadest and why not ambiguous. Like any evaluation process, there is no rigid template or format that must be followed to evaluate, although there are suggestions that can serve as a basis but must be appropriate to the characteristics and needs of the context.

It should be considered that any evaluation process consists of several moments and different evaluation directions: ascending, descending, collateral, self-evaluation, diagnostic, summative, formative, metacognition, evaluation, etc.

Summary

Educational management refers to the activities carried out by the participants of the educational process with the aim of improving it. Among the activities that are carried out, it is possible to list the promotion of collegial work, taking into account the characteristics and needs of those involved, etc. It could be said that three key lines for the evaluation of educational management, in most countries, are: coverage, efficiency and educational quality.

When speaking of educational quality, we necessarily speak of equity, understanding that the purpose of the educational process is to train individuals in their human condition and that education meets their needs, including citizen behaviors (habits, values, norms) that help to put practice knowledge. It should be noted that in the educational field the objectives are reached momentarily, as soon as new needs and situations arise that demand raising the objectives.

In order to consider that management seeks coverage, efficiency and quality, processes must be analyzed, such as the joint methodological training in which the organizational elements are linked; Another process is the work system where the organization is guaranteed, which is essential to achieve quality and efficiency; and a third process is internal, external evaluation and self-evaluation. It is necessary to analyze the scientific method that guarantees the linking of these processes and elements to arrive at the systemic evaluation of educational management.

Evaluation is a key point in the development of any project, and has a direct impact on the work and evolution of the organization. Generally, the work methodology consists of processes that are: planning, action, data collection and, finally, evaluation, which is, in turn, the starting point for the following planning. An evaluation aims to carry out an analysis and reflection that has the consequence of improving and / or progressing; Furthermore, it is an exercise in responsibility. The ultimate goal of evaluation is to improve the organization's work and its proposals.

Evaluating means systematically collecting and analyzing information that allows us to determine the value and / or merit of what is done. But we cannot forget that above all it must be useful and practical and must be a practice assumed in the entity and with an established periodicity. At a minimum, a general evaluation must be carried out at the end of each year to serve as an orientation and improvement for planning the next. All projects and programs must be evaluated independently of general evaluations.

The method for evaluating educational management arises in Cuba, it is universal in nature, it promotes leadership, it makes possible the integration of actions to achieve directive and academic management, all those involved in the educational process must participate actively and democratically, in addition of losing the fear of being watched. Three key moments in the method can be identified, which are: the diagnosis is the thermometer that indicates what is missing; standards work, planning, demonstrations, and observation from the classroom; and the conclusions, drawn up jointly by those involved, of how the class fared from a self-evaluation.

The file for management evaluation analyzes actions such as planning, activities, leadership, organization, collaboration from its origin to its outcome, as well as the relationship between both factors and actors. Among the parameters to evaluate educational management are:

Degree of achievement of the objectives.

Consideration of the characteristics of the environment.

Resource management.

Tendency to improve.

Company focus towards value creation.

Link between actions and objectives.

Communication and interaction between those involved.

Decision making.

In summary, the management evaluation serves to have a better administration of time and resources, identify weaknesses and strengths, make decisions, identify needs, make adjustments, etc. It also aims to maintain and / or improve the level of competencies and skills through the design of specific actions that allow individual training and training plans to be carried out that favor student learning.

Comments

The evaluation is not about criticizing but about collaborating, that is, in the process the weak points of the management are identified in order to collaboratively suggest, design and / or find a way to transform them; It is worth mentioning that it is not a matter of identifying these points as an isolated factor, but as part of a whole, with causes and consequences, so that when applying the changes they are reflected in the whole process and therefore in the results obtained.

Another point that should be highlighted is that, although the evaluation is directed to a certain factor, in this case, management, it cannot be done in isolation, so it is necessary to evaluate all the factors and actors from different angles: evaluation by hierarchies, collateral evaluation, self-evaluation, etc., so that the evaluation is not only assigning a value to the action but detecting the causes and consequences of why those results, in order to be able to work on the deficiencies and improve the results.

Among the points considered by the file are the relevance, that is to say that it is related to the project and the context, sensitivity referring to the fact that a change must be reflected, relevance because it must be a key point in decision-making, accessible, that is, the information is easily accessible and a familiar language, among others.

In the reality of the public school, it is still necessary to work in the sense of organization, because as it is suggested, it is possible that without organization there is coverage, but neither can there be efficiency or quality, so it is important to reorganize if necessary to improve, as well as promote leadership and maturity that allow recognizing the skills and virtues of the other as a complement and not as a competition or rivalry.

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