UNC School of Education

Associate Professor of Educational Assessment and Evaluation

T 919.843.8165
F 919.962.1533
ritao@email.unc.edu

213E Peabody Hall
CB 3500

Rita O’Sullivan is associate professor of evaluation and assessment in the School of Education, where she teaches graduate courses in educational program evaluation, case study methods, research design, qualitative methods, measurement, and statistics. She also is executive director of Evaluation, Assessment and Policy Connections (EvAP), an evaluation unit she founded within the School of Education that trains evaluators and conducts local, state, national and international evaluations. As part of her work with EvAP, O’Sullivan has developed evaluation training institutes that offer an inexpensive, workshop-style introduction to evaluation methods and theory.

O’Sullivan has traveled to Kazakhstan (2005), Guinea (2004), Brazil (2003), Siberia (2002), Durban (2002) and Barbados (2001) to work with evaluators who are working with nonprofit organizations in management, education, health, social work, auditing, government service, agriculture and environmental protection. In addition to her contributions to the field of evaluation via articles and presentations, she served as secretary/treasurer of the American Evaluation Association from 1992-1997, and in 2002 received the Ingle Service Award from the American Evaluation Association. In 2001, she received the first lifetime Distinguished Service Award from the North Carolina Association for Research in Education.

• Evaluation, Assessment & Policy Connections (EvAP)

• Ed.D. 1984 - Auburn University, Educational Leadership and Curriculum & Instruction
• M.A. 1976 - California Poly. State University, Educational Administration
• A.B. 1971 - University of California, Anthropology

• Collaborative Evaluation
• Research Overview

• Educational Research
• Assessment

• 2002, American Evaluation Association Ingle Award for service
• 2001, American Evaluation Association Plaque for Service as Secretary/Treasurer, 1992-1997
• 1996, Excellence in Teaching Award Nominee, School of Education, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
• 1991, Bullard Award for Service, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

• 2001-2005, Los Angeles County Children and Families First Proposition 10 Evaluation
• 2002-2004, National Board of Professional Teaching Standards Research on Classroom Assessment
• 2001-2004, Evaluation of All Stars, Sr. Substance Abuse Prevention Program
• 2002, Evaluation of Kindergarten Readiness for the Davidson County Partnership for Children
• 2000-2002, Evaluation of the Duke Endowment's Early Childhood Initiative

• American Educational Research Association: 1988-1993, 1998, 1999, Division H Annual Meeting Proposal Reviewer
• 1993, Panel Discussant
• 1995, Division C Panel Discussant
• 1992, SIG Classroom Assessment, Newsletter Editor
• 1991-95, 1997, Proposal Reviewer
• 1990-1991, SIG Research on Evaluation, Newsletter Editor
• American Evaluation Association: 1992-1997, Secretary/Treasurer

O'Sullivan, R.G. (2002). Practicing Evaluation: A Collaborative Approach. Thousand Oaks: Sage

McColskey, W., & O'Sullivan, R.G. (in press). Assessment reform: A decade of change. In J. Altschuld & D. Kumar (Eds.) Evaluation in Science Education, pp xxx-xxx, Boston:Kluwer

O'Sullivan, R.G., & D'Agostino, A. (manuscript). Promoting evaluation through collaboration with community based programs for young children and their families. Evaluation.

O'Sullivan, R.G. (1999). From responsive to collaborative evaluation. Proceedings of the 1998 Stake Symposium on Evaluation. Chapaign-Urbanan, IL:CIRCE, University of Illinois.

O'Sullivan, R.G., & O'Sullivan, J.M. (1998). Evaluation Voices: Promoting evaluation from within programs through collaboration. Evaluation and Program Planning, 21.1, 21-29.