Reframing Evaluative Judgment and Value in Inclusive Postsecondary Education: A Value on Investment Perspective

Inclusive postsecondary education (IPSE) programs for students with disabilities have expanded nationwide, yet guidance for their evaluation remains limited. This article introduces Value on Investment (VOI) for IPSE programs as an evaluative orientation to support leaders and evaluators in rethinking how value is defined and examined. A VOI orientation moves beyond traditional outcome-focused or cost-benefit evaluation by attending to three interrelated dimensions of value: student-centered, institution-centered, and field/community/society-centered. VOI is a values-based evaluative stance that shapes which outcomes are prioritized, whose perspectives are centered, and how evidence of impact is interpreted over time. As an orientation rather than a discrete or prescriptive evaluation approach, VOI emphasizes strategic decision-making as a central function of evaluation, rather than the development of fixed metrics or endpoints. The paper further attends to the developmental nature of value identification in IPSE across stakeholders, highlighting the importance of aligning evaluation efforts with program maturity, student trajectories, and broader institutional change processes. Collectively, this evaluative stance complements existing evaluation practices by going beyond only what students may gain to what institutions become capable of sustaining.