4: VALUES, GOALS, PUBLIC POLICY AND EDUCATIONAL EVALUATION

longed and bitter political confrontations, and moralistic exhortations characterized the decade of the 1960's. Was it the worst of times or a prelude to the best of times? If the world survives, some unborn historian or social critic may be better able to pass judgment. But two things are clear as the decade of 1970 begins: there are few areas of American life where attitudes, values, goals, priorities, policies, and programs are not being challenged, and there is increasing impatience with dispassionate rational discussion among contending groups. Education is no exception. Added to the older and continuing con troversies over racial segregation, federal aid to the school, sex education, and public aid to parochial schools are newer disputes over community control and the discrepancy between rich and poor school districts. Decisions heretofore relatively insulated from politics are now being attacked by parents, political pressure groups, teachers, and minority groups. Curricu lum adoption, grading policy, school reorganization, tracking, composition of classes, promotion and assignment of school personnel, and the selection of pom-pom girls are now political issues. The policy maker's basic goals and values, whether openly professed, implicit, or falsely attributed, are being questioned. Often the charge of the challengers is that the "system" or its leaders are pursuing goals based on underlying values which are improper, and some change in values, leaders, programs, or the controlling constituency is necessary. The growing politicalization of all aspects of American life coupled with an increasing retreat from rationalism and distrust of the intellectual is a direct challenge to applied social scientists and other professionals to demonstrate that social justice is served by rational, empirically based policy decisions. The emerging field of educational evaluation is in part *I wish to acknowledge the contribution of Ann C. Berlak, Washington University, who assisted with the writing of this chapter, and of Michael Scriven, University o