Multiethnic Issues in Evaluation
Cherie Avent, PhD
Assistant Professor
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, United States
Rebecca Teasdale, PhD
Assistant Professor
University of Illinois Chicago
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Xinru Yan, M.S.
PhD Student
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, United States
Ceily Moore, M.Ed.
PhD Student
University of Illinois Chicago, United States
María Serrano-Abreu, M.Ed.
Graduate Student
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, United States
Location: Room 103
Abstract Information: Participants in this roundtable session will discuss emerging findings from a research study that seeks to deepen empirical knowledge and build evaluators’ practice in advancing racial equity and justice. This roundtable has two objectives. First, sharing stories that address the ways in which equity- and justice-oriented evaluators’ identities/positionality influence their practice when seeking to advance racial equity. Second, dialogue with round table participants on how these narratives are similar or different from their own experiences and might ultimately influence their evaluation work. After sharing stories drawn from our emerging findings, the following guiding questions will frame the roundtable discussion: (1) What, from these themes, resonates with you? (2) How do your experiences, perspectives, or aspirations differ from the themes we have shared? (3) What questions, tensions, or future directions should we consider as we continue this work? We will capture detailed notes during the discussion, which will be shared with all interested participants and will inform subsequent phases of our research study. Our goal is to engage in collective meaning making to deepen understanding of evaluation practice, surface patterns and tensions that require future empirical study, and build practice-based theory to guide evaluators’ work.
Relevance Statement: The conference theme pushes evaluators to consider the role of storytelling as a means of exploring the presentation of data, addressing grand challenges, and sharing lessons learned. This roundtable focuses specifically on the narratives from equity and justice-centered evaluators attending to racial equity because, as Thomas and colleagues (2018) argue, racism is embedded in the fabric of our country, influencing the lives of BIPOC populations in social programs being evaluated. As a field, we cannot ignore it in our work (Hall, 2020)—and evaluation can be an important driver in creating change for communities of color (Neubauer, et al., 2020). There is a rich and growing body of literature that addresses social justice in evaluation, yet much of that literature presents theoretical considerations, with limited empirical research on race and evaluation and few narratives from justice-focused evaluators. This roundtable will address the conference theme and gaps in the literature by providing practical guidance derived from empirical research on evaluation and grounded in stories shared by evaluators. We report findings from semi-structured interviews with 29 evaluators who have deep experience employing equity-and-justice focused or culturally responsive evaluation approaches with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. As racism and racial equity have become a focus for an increasing number of organizations and individuals, this session will provide practical, research-backed guidance that amplifies the voices and experiences of evaluators with longstanding commitments to racial justice. The roundtable will address interrelated and under-studied aspects of advancing racial equity in evaluation practice. First, the field of evaluation has limited understanding of how an evaluator’s identities shape their roles and practice (Boyce et al., 2022). This roundtable will illuminate how experienced evaluators’ identities influence their understanding of racial equity and justice, as well as evaluative decision-making when working in BIPOC communities. Second, the narratives shared answer calls for additional understanding about race, evaluators, and evaluation. The session will foster dialogue with round table participants on how the narratives are similar or different from their own experiences and what lessons they might apply to their own evaluation work. Taken together, the stories and dialog will deepen understanding of evaluation practice, identify directions future empirical study, and build practice-based theory to guide evaluators’ work to build a more equitable future.
References: Boyce, A. S., Reid, A. M., Avent, C., Adetogun, A., Moller, J., & Hooks Singletary, B. (2022a). Social justice as ontology: The intersection of Black evaluators’ identities, roles, and practice. American Journal of Evaluation. https://doi.org/10.1177/10982140221108664 Neubauer, L. C., McBride, D., Guajardo, A. D., Casillas, W. D. & Hall, M. E. (Eds.). (2020). Examining issues facing communities of color today: The role of evaluation to incite change. New Directions for Evaluation, 166. Thomas, V. G., Madison, A., Rockcliffe, F., DeLaine, K., & Lowe, S. M. (2018). Racism, Social Programming, and Evaluation: Where Do We Go From Here? American Journal of Evaluation, 39(4), 514–526.