Envisioning an Evaluation Curriculum to Develop Culturally Responsive Evaluators and Support Social Justice

Abstract

This chapter describes the theoretical framework underlying the Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) program curriculum and discusses how the program evolved over time. It describes the various components of the program, plus factors that influenced curriculum content and format. The chapter also discusses four levels of intended program outcomes: individual, organizational, community, and professional. As former coordinators and instructor of the program, we explain how the theoretical framework we adopted guided the development of culturally responsive evaluators committed to social justice and social change. The chapter concludes by examining the impact of program participation on the instructors, suggesting pathways of influence that lie outside the original conceptualization of the program, including how the synergy of evolving theory and curriculum enriched the program.

Setting the stage for critically defined and responsive evaluator education and training

“…For insights, we look to recent scholarship on critically informed evaluation, including LGBTQ+ evaluation (Phillips et al, 2022), LatCrit theory (Guajardo et al, 2020), culturally rooted and responsive evaluation (e.g., Collins & Hopson, 2014), and standpoint theory, which helps evaluators critically examine inequality and privilege (Hall, 2020). Building from these ideas, Collins and Hopson offer a deep dive into the American Evaluation Association's (AEA's) Graduate Education Diversity Initiative (GEDI) (Collins & Hopson, 2014), while Wright and LaVelle (2022) discuss injecting critical theory into evaluator education experiences. We believe these to be good starting points, though we hope to see more examples of identity-and positionality-specific evaluator education in the future.…”

Navigating the Field While Black: A Critical Race Analysis of Peer and Elder Advice to and From Black Evaluators

“…Increased empirical literature, graduate evaluation programs, and seminars offered by associations or affiliate organizations reflect the growth in opportunities for education and training (Boyce & McGowan, 2018;LaVelle & Donaldson, 2015). At the same time, the growth of the field in these areas has included greater sensitivity to issues of diversity, with deliberate efforts to attract and retain evaluators of color (Collins & Hopson, 2014;Hood, 1998), resulting in the creation of American Evaluation Association (AEA) Topical Interest Groups focused on minority issues (e.g., Multiethnic Issues in Evaluation, Indigenous Peoples in Evaluation, LatinX Responsive Evaluation Discourse), the Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI), and programs such as Leaders in Equitable Evaluation and Diversity (LEEAD) originally developed by the Annie Casey Foundation.…”