Museum Evaluation

Notes

• I am deeply grateful for the time my colleagues spent in talking with or writing to me about this issue. They all gave me great insights and direction for this article: Gail Davitt, who also had this conversation with the education department staff at the Dallas Museum of Art, Julia Forbes at the High Museum of Art, Cynthia Moreno at the Speed Art Museum, Megan Richardson at the National Gallery of Ontario, Judy Koke at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, and Beverly Serrell of Serrell Associates.
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• GPRA was passed by Congress in 1993 to make federal agencies more efficient and because “Federal managers are seriously disadvantaged in their efforts to improve efficiency and effectiveness, because of insufficient articulation of program goals and inadequate information on program performance.” Additionally, GPRA was designed to assist congressional decision-making by providing meaningful performance measures of federal agency activities. (Office of Management and Budget: The Executive Office of the President, 1993, Section 2). GPRA asked agencies to determine:
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• Inputs = resources dedicated to or consumed by a program,
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• Activities = how the inputs are used to fulfill the mission through the program,
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• Outputs = direct products of the program activities, measured as the work accomplished, and
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• Outcomes = benefits and/or changes in the targeted population of a program.
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• For more history of GPRA see: http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/sped/tri/evalwkshp.htm & http://aad.uoregon.edu/culturework/culturework28.htm
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• The United Way's Outcomes Model, created in 1995, was “a specific and canonized evaluation process, streamlining reports by funded organizations. Additionally, it allow[ed] for a unified reporting system, cutting down costs and time by combining many different evaluations into one.” See: http://aad.uoregon.edu/culturework/culturework28.htm
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• “The Informal Science Education (ISE) program at the National Science Foundation (NSF) invests in projects designed to increase interest in, engagement with, and understanding of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by individuals of all ages and backgrounds through self-directed learning experiences. In addition to these public audience impacts, projects must demonstrate how they seek to advance the knowledge and practice of informal science education.” David A. Ucko in Alan J. Friedman, ed., Framework for Evaluating Impacts of Informal Science Education Projects: Report from a National Science Foundation Workshop (2008): 9–13. See: http://caise.insci.org/uploads/docs/Eval_Frame-work.pdf
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• Ibid.
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• IMLS has a dedicated section on Outcomes Based Evaluation at http://www.imls.gov/applicants/outcome_based_evaluations.aspx In the abstract of a proposal you are requested to articulate the outcomes for your project.
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• See: http://www.nea.gov/grants/apply/GAP12/AWreportingl.pdf
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• Conversation with Cynthia Moreno, Head of Education, Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY, October 25, 2011.
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• John H. Falk & L. Dierking, The Museum Experience (Washington, DC: Whalesback Books, 1992).
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• Stephen E. Weil, The Museum and Other Meditations (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990) and Making Museums Matter (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 2002).
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• George E. Hein, Learning in the Museum (New York: Routledge, 1998).
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• Mark H. Moore, Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995).
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• Correspondence with Megan Richardson, Curator of Education, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, CN, October 20, 2011.
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• Conversation with Gail Davitt, Head of Education, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, October 7, 2011.
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• I am drawing on Harry Broudy in his description of how school administrators and often parents think about the importance of arts education in the schools-nice but not necessary. Harry S. Broudy, “Arts Education: Necessary or Just Nice?” Phi Delta Kappan 60, no.5 (January 1979): 347–50.
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• Bonnie Pitman & Ellen Hirzy, Ignite the Power of Art (New Haven: Yale University, 2010).
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• Conversation with Gail Davitt.
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• Correspondence with Megan Richardson.
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• The Audience Experience professional development initiative was created and implemented by the Balboa Park Learning Institute in San Diego, CA in 2010–2011. www.bpcp.org
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• J. H. Falk, Identity and the Museum Visitor Experience (Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast, 2009).
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• Beverly Serrell, Paying Attention: Visitors and Museum Exhibitions (Washington, DC: American Association of Museums, 1998).
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• Conversation with Julia Forbes, Shannon Landing Amos Head of Museum Interpretation, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, October 25, 2011.
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• See: J. H. Falk, Factors Influencing Leisure Decisions: The Use of Museums by African Americans (Washington, DC: American Association of Museums, 1993) and Identity and the Museum Visitor Experience (Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2009).
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• http://www.aam-us.org/museumresources/ic/ie/planning/ncip/ (page accessible to members only)
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• http://informalscience.org/ Note: Although evaluation and research reports from all types of museums are welcome on the site, the presence of the word “science” has dissuaded many art and history museum practitioners from checking out the site.
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• Conversation with Beverly Serrell.
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