Interview of anEvaluation User

Michael HendricksInterview Series Editor

On September 29,1987, Ed Meade, Chief Program Officer, Educationand Culture Program at the Ford Foundation, met with Bill Bickel andTony Eichelberger to discuss his experiences and insights into evaluationbased on his 27 years at the Foundation. Earlier he had been a teacher,leader of a teachers' organization, and school administrator. In the1960s he led the Ford Foundation's Comprehensive School Improve­ment Program, the assessment of which resulted in the publication "AFoundation Goes to School." Drawing upon his many roles at the FordFoundation, Ed Meade sheds light on the ways that such foundationsoperate, and the types ofevaluation information that are most useful tohim and others in similar settings.

Schenley Description

Since the Schenley High School Teacher Center is referred to anumber of times in this interview, some basic information about theprogram is provided. The Center is a major staffdevelopment effort forsecondary teachers in the Pittsburgh Public School District. Teachersfrom across the district attend the Center during the school year ineight-week cycles, working with Schenley teachers and a variety of otherprofessionals on a wide range of professional development goals­particularly to update their content knowledge and refine their teachingskills. The Center is evaluated by a unit of the Pittsburgh PublicSchools, and the implementation of the project has been documented byBill Bickel at the Learning Research and Development Center. The

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Ford Foundation has provided support for several aspects of this effort ,including the documentation of the Center's development.

A Conversationwith Ed MeadeWilliam E. BickelR. Tony EichelbergerUniversity of Pittsburgh

BB: Ed, could we begin with a liule background information on the FordFoundation, particularly its goals and activities w ith respect to basiceducation?

EM: The purposes of the Ford Foundation are global. It is a foundationexpected to work worldwide to improve human welfare . That doesn't giveyou much of an objective, but it certainly gives you a lot of room to work.We have to come to grips with the question, in what areas cancontributions of funds from the Foundation be useful to promote,enhance, and improve human welfare? Over the years there have beencertain sectors that hav e been selected for emphasis by the Board ofTrustees and the staff of the Foundation. And they are not unusual ones .Economic development is clearly one; and education clearly another. Ofparticular interest is the well-being of people who have been somehowdenied , who have experienced economic deprivation, racial discrimina­tion, or have been ignored by the mainstream of the world, so to speak.That tempers to some degree the areas we select . In education, over thepast 20 years, the emphasis has been on improving education on behalf ofpersons .....e now call "at risk," who must depend on formal educationmore than others because they do not have the ad vantage of goodenvironmental circumstances outside of their formal educational experi­ences in schools, colleges, universities, and the like.

BB: How did you become involved in education and with the Foundation?EM: I started out in education as a teacher of geography, and then later

moved into the administration of schools in my home state of New Jersey.I had the opportunity to be the assistant principal opening a new highschool. It was quite an adventure. Following my experience in the publicschools, I went off to get a doctorate degree. I trained particularly to be aschool administrator, and more pointedly; to be a superintendent ofschools. Among a handful of opportunities that presented themselves

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