Nobody knows my name: In praise of african american evaluators who were responsive

Abstract

The essential place of race and culture in the meanings of responsive evaluation are argued through (1) a historical accounting of the significant but inexplicably unknown contributions of early African American evaluators and (2) the unassailable warrant for contemporary responsiveness to our “long silenced cultures of color.”

The construct(ion) of validity as argument

“…Many interpretive evaluators take a multipartisan or pluralistic position (for example, Stake, 2004), seeking to surface the value stances and claims of multiple stakeholders in the contexts being studied and enable stakeholder conversations about them. And more explicitly ideologically oriented evaluators-notably, those in the democratic (House and Howe, 1999), participatory (Whitmore, 1998), and culturally responsive (Hood, 2001;Thomas and Stevens, 2004) traditions-are openly partisan through the adoption of prescriptive value stances. Yet, these value stances pertain not to the program being evaluated per se, but rather to the political and action-oriented consequences of the program.…”

Building a contextually responsive evaluation framework: Lessons from working with urban school interventions

“…We embrace all of these aspects in the conceptualization and implementation of urban school reform evaluations. Hood (1998Hood ( , 2001 argues that a shared lived experience could and possibly should be accepted as being important and valuable in the evaluation of programs serving members of racial minority groups. He adds that evaluators of color are more likely to have direct experiences with their own racial and cultural group that may inform their evaluation of programs serving this group.…”

“…Hood (2001) noted that when evaluators and participants are of similar ethnic and racial background, less time will be required in translating the cultural nuances and nonverbal communications associated with observations, conducting interviews, and interpretations that go beyond quantitative indictors of what the program appears to be. As culturally competent evaluators, we must also be selfreflective and open to examining our own assumptions and stereotypes about urban schools and their stakeholders.…”

“…CRESPAR evaluators, like numerous other scholars (Hood, 2001;Frierson, Hood, and Hughes, 2002;Robinson, 1992;Stevens, 2000), argue that culturally competent research is best done by qualified representatives of the culture being served. However, we recognize that this may not always be practical or feasible given the relatively small proportion of practicing evaluators of color or individuals from underrepresented groups pursuing graduate education and careers in evaluation.…”

From Program to Network

“…Cronbach and associates (1980) and Weiss (1998) emphasized the educative role of evaluation in society, and Patton (1997) underscored evaluators' consultative role. In more ideologically motivated conceptualizations of evaluation, evaluators take on roles as social critics (Everitt, 1996;Mertens, 1999); agents of social change (Whitmore, 1998); facilitators of deliberative democratic dialogues (House and Howe, 1999); or advocates for cultural justice (Hood, 2001;Hopson, 2001).…”