Propriety Standards, the Utility Standards and the Accuracy Standards

Providing the concise set of standards which are used to evaluate the quality, performance and proficiency of educators in the U.S. and Canada, the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Three of the standards established by the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation are the Propriety Standards, the Utility Standards and the Accuracy Standards. (jcsee, 2011)

Utility Standards

Utility standards provide assurance that evaluations serve the informational needs of the intended users.

One way to help ensure quality throughout an organization it to consider risk management through the Utility Standards method. Risk management may be explained as being "a program directed toward identifying, evaluating, and taking corrective action against potential risks that could lead to injury of patients, staff, or visitors" (Sullivan & Decker, 2005, pp 187).

Being a problem-focused program designed to prevent loss and control liability, risk management, identifies potential for accident then provides for the development of plans to reduce injury and accidents. Examples of risk may include but are not limited to medication errors, diagnostic procedural errors, incidents such as refusal of treatment, falls, and patient or family dissatisfaction with received care (Sullivan & Decker, 2005). Medication errors can be absolutely detrimental to patients and pose a serious risk in treatment. Medication errors are a serious consideration at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and a focus of their current risk management is medication errors stemming from continuous infusions.

Propriety Standards

Propriety standards ensure an evaluation will be conducted legally, ethically, and with due regard for the welfare of those evaluated while providing consideration for all those who are affected by the results of the evaluation.

Educational evaluation provides for the systematic assessment of educational activities. Facets of evaluation include school initiatives, instructional programs and education goals. Increases in federal funding for educational goals and policy-makers' increased focus on school accountability have contributed to recent growth of educational evaluation. It is not uncommon for large school districts to employ personnel responsible for evaluation and propriety standards.

Accuracy Standards

Accuracy standards provide assurance that an evaluation reveals and conveys technically adequate data regarding features that determine worth and merit of the program which are evaluated.

Internal controls are an important facet of operating a business and may be easily forgotten by entrepreneurs and small business owners. In fact,