Teaching of Evaluation
C Deborah Laughton
Publisher-Methodology and Statistics
Guilford Press, United States
Susan Wolfe, PhD (she/her/hers)
CEO / Community Consultant
Susan Wolfe and Associates, LLC
Grand Prairie, Texas, United States
Claudia Olavarria, n/a
Consultant
International Evaluation Consultant, United States
DONNA MERTENS, PhD (she/her/hers)
Professor Emeritus
Gallaudet University, United States
DONNA MERTENS, PhD (she/her/hers)
Professor Emeritus
Gallaudet University, United States
Location: Room 203
Abstract Information: Evaluation has progressed since the early days of applying social science research methods and educational objectives and testing. Preparation of evaluators has also progressed as evaluators produce scholarship that advances thinking about its theories, methods, and uses. When publishers contract for new editions of textbooks, they solicit reviews from evaluators about what changes are needed. This panel provides perspectives from C Deborah Laughton who has edited evaluation books for over 30 years, as well as perspectives of Susan Wolfe, who is advancing understandings of the role of coalitions in evaluation as a strategy for furthering social justice, and Claudia Olavarria who works as an emerging evaluator in the challenging contexts of Latin America and the Caribbean. These three presenters will share their experiences on how the preparation of new evaluators and professional development for seasoned evaluators can grow in the pursuit of a more just world.
Relevance Statement: The evaluation field is changing. This is evidenced by recent titles of New Directions in Evaluation that cover topics such evaluation with the LGBTQ community (Felt, et al., 2022); Indigenous nations (Cram et al., 2018); and communities of color (Neubauer, et al., 2020). NDE also included issues on community coalitions (Wolfe, et al., 2020), and complexity responsiveness (Oakley & Krueger, 2022). Teachers of evaluation can benefit from knowing more about the changing story of evaluation. One excellent source of the changing story of evaluation and its implications for training evaluators comes from publishers of evaluation textbooks who ask reviewers to comment on what needs to be changed or added when they are considering a new book proposal or giving advice to an author whose book is being revised. Advice currently asks for more attention to evaluations that reflect the diversity of our field, including the LGBTQ+ community, Indigenous nations, communities of color, and people with disabilities; how to address intersectionality and issues of justice in evaluation work; and the use of coalitions combined with social activist strategies to support transformative change. The first presenter is C Deborah Laughton, who has been an acquisitions editor for two of the major publishers (Sage and Guilford) that publish the majority of the books on evaluation. She brings a different perspective than that of the usual practicing or teaching evaluators who typically present at AEA. She has 30 years of experience of seeing the story of evaluation change and has her pulse on the story that current evaluators are telling about their field. The second presenter, Susan Wolfe, is one of the editors of the NDE volume on community coalitions. Building community coalitions is a part of the changing story of evaluation. Coalitions in projects have played roles in advising on the interventions, but their roles in contributing to evaluations is still in the early stages. Evaluators can learn more about the integration of social activist strategies and building coalitions that are actively engaged in the evaluation to increase the impact of their work for a more just world. The third presenter, Claudia Olavarria, contributed to the NDE on Innovations in complexity responsiveness. She works in contexts of political turmoil and suppression of human rights in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). She will tell the changing story of evaluation in these challenging contexts so that evaluation becomes more culturally responsive, transformative, and gender responsive to address issues of social injustice in the LAC region. Donna M Mertens serves as chair and discussant; she will bring her experience as an evaluation book author to the discussion of the panel. Overall, this panel is designed to raise issues for teachers of evaluation and all practicing evaluators that are emerging in importance in the field, and to do so with an eye to the preparation of new evaluators and enhancement of skills of veteran evaluators.
Presenter: DONNA M. MERTENS, PhD (she/her/hers) – Gallaudet University
Presenter: C Deborah Laughton – Guilford Press
Presenter: Susan M. Wolfe, PhD (she/her/hers) – Susan Wolfe and Associates, LLC
Presenter: Claudia Olavarria, n/a – International Evaluation Consultant