Guidance for the evaluation of a student success programme by a Scientific and Evaluation Committee

Abstract

This contribution presents how an evaluation body of a student success program was built over four years. It traces the case of the Scientific and Evaluation Committee of a multi-institutional educational project started in 2018 as part of the 10-year NCU-ANR-PIA program. It describes the various steps involved in setting up an instituted evaluation structured by the statutes of its members, by adherence to underlying principles inspired by Thélot (2008) and inspired by evaluation research and not only by spontaneous requests and evaluations. It specifies the ways in which the evaluation judgement is constructed by this body, which at the intersection of external and internal evaluation accompanies the actors in the management of the project and its various actions. Through this account of practice, we propose a critical analysis of the setting up of such a committee, questioning the postures to be adopted in this evaluation process as well as the dynamics allowing its proper implementation.