Stories of Professionalization: Using Narratives to Move Evaluation and Evaluators Forward Together

Abstract Information: AEA’s Board approved a set of evaluator competencies in 2018. AEA continues its commitment to professionalization by creating the Professionalization & Competencies Working Group (P&CWG). P&CWG has been bringing members and other stakeholders together to collaboratively share stories of successful professionalization, as well as suggest ways to integrate these narratives into AEA initiatives (Tucker et al 2022). The goal of this Think Tank is to engage participants in shaping AEA’s next steps regarding: 1) responding to P&CWG collected narratives from evaluators, AEA leadership, commissioners, and representatives from other VOPEs about forces they have experienced FOR and AGAINST professionalization; 2) raising questions and policies that should be addressed by AEA to move forward; and 3) validating six strategies emerging from these stories to move evaluation as a field as well as individual evaluators forward.

Relevance Statement: Building on AEA’s foundational documents (e.g., the Program Evaluation Standards, AEA Guiding Principles, and AEA Statement on Cultural Competence), AEA Evaluator Competencies were approved by AEA’s board in May 2018. AEA continues its commitment to professionalization bvia the Professionalization & Competencies Working Group (P&CWG). Since 2021, P&CWG has been bringing members and other stakeholders together to collaboratively share studies and stories of professionalization, as well as study ways to integrate these narratives into AEA initiatives. Historically, our profession has focused more on honing theoretical and technical aspects of evaluation rather than attending to so called “soft” domains such as contexts, management and interpersonal skills to conduct increasingly complex evaluation. If we as a field are to prepare/support evaluation professionals to conduct “quality” evaluation at current levels of heightened uncertainty and into the future, what more do we need to understand more deeply and what assumptions and actions do we need to shift—as an association as well as individual evaluators? We need more than competency frameworks, formal coursework, and training opportunities about the “know what” of evaluation. The past three years have demonstrated while more choice than ever is out there online, there is a dire need for sustained interaction between evaluators, commissioners, and users to co-construct a more nuanced evaluation practice—particularly if we want evaluation professionals to develop complex capacities such as thinking critically, reflecting collaboratively, and acting practically, interpersonally, and ethically. Member engagement via story sharing is critical to successful professionalization. As part of continuous engagement amongst its diverse communities, P&CWG has conducted a series of dialogs throughout the year via focus groups, webinars, townhalls, collaboration with TIGs and researchers. We propose to continue this engagement with Think Tank session by unpacking the practical and relational aspects of professionalization in 2023 and beyond. Part 1: The session chair will frame P&CWG charges and member roles to the whole group using a force field analysis protocol o Each participant receives a handout of P&CWG force field analysis of the stories collected from evaluators, AEA leadership, commissioners, and representatives from other VOPEs about forces they have experienced FOR and AGAINST professionalization Part 2: Lightning rounds will occur around 4 topics:: institutionalization, awareness strategies, researching professionalization, and advocating for professionalization o Small group work occurs at each of 4 tables facilitated by at least one member of the P&CWG consisting of the following activities: participants reading and sharing their own stories about forces for and against professionalization, identifying those activities they support, and raising questions which still need to be addressed to move professionalization further Part 3: Large group sharing of small group debriefs Part 4: P&CWG will continue online engagement with members after the conference via webinars and townhalls, research protocols, TIG pilots, and collaboration with AEA task forces and working groups

References: Tucker, S., Stevahn, L., & King, J. A. (2022). Professionalizing Evaluation: A Time-Bound Comparison of the American Evaluation Association’s Foundational Documents. American Journal of Evaluation, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/10982140221136486