Raising the Bar – Integrating Cultural Competence and Equity: Equitable Evaluation

Dean-Coffey, Jara; Casey, Jill; Caldwell, Leon D.

doi:10.9707/1944-5660.1203

Cited by 15 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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Section: Race Equity and Evaluation: We Don't Know Enoughmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the influence of foundations on evaluation practice, it is time to explore how to systematically integrate what some practitioners call "EE" into philanthropic institutions (Dean-Coffey, Casey, & Caldwell, 2014). Developed initially by a collaborative team of Luminare Group, the Center for Evaluation Innovation, and the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy, EE explicitly accounts for the context of structural barriers to social change and recognizes that culture is bound to this context (Dean-Coffey et al, 2014). As the number of foundations that have an equity focus is growing, it is time to examine the "fit" of existing evaluation approaches to the principles and values of equity-focused grantmaking and understand better what it takes to build the organizational capacity, will, and wherewithal to engage in EE.…”

Section: Race Equity and Evaluation: We Don't Know Enoughmentioning

confidence: 99%

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What’s Race Got to Do With It? Equity and Philanthropic Evaluation Practice

Dean-Coffey¹

2018

American Journal of Evaluation

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An increasing number of foundations are embracing racial equity/equity as a core value, and it is influencing how they see themselves and operate. However, evaluation has for the most part remained untouched. Knowing how race/racism has influenced both, philanthropy and evaluation, deepens our understanding of how philanthropic evaluation practice may unintentionally reinforce racism. Equitable evaluation shifts the current evaluation paradigm to one that centers equity/racial equity, so that it is more aligned with the values and intentions of current day philanthropic endeavors.

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Section: Race Equity and Evaluation: We Don't Know Enoughmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Race Equity and Evaluation: We Don't Know Enoughmentioning

confidence: 99%

What’s Race Got to Do With It? Equity and Philanthropic Evaluation Practice

Dean-Coffey¹

2018

American Journal of Evaluation

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“…Over the past three decades, the US evaluation profession has slowly begun to respond to longstanding calls to confront the entrenched structural nature of social problems that systematically undermine the well‐being of disempowered groups and to redress the legacies of colonialism and oppression on the field and its practices (see, for example, Bowman‐Farrell, 2019; Dean‐Coffey, Casey, & Caldwell, 2014; Equitable Evaluation Initiative, 2020; Hall, 2018; Hood, 2018; Hopson & Cram, 2018; House, 1990, 2017; Kirkhart, 1995; Mertens, 1999; SenGupta, Hopson, & Thompson‐Robinson, 2004; Symonette, 2008). This shift toward recognizing social justice and equity as foundational to evaluation practice is hard won.…”

Section: Evaluators As Privileged Participants In Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A related statement from the Equitable Evaluation Initiative (EEI) magnifies the critical importance of evaluators’ task: “Without attention to equity from the outset, evaluation can bring blame and disinvestment. It can sustain or exacerbate inequity in the very communities that were intended to benefit” (Dean‐Coffey et al., 2014, p. 90).…”

Section: Evaluators As Privileged Participants In Evaluationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Power, Privilege, and Competence: Using the 2018 AEA Evaluator Competencies to Shape Socially Just Evaluation Practice

Symonette

Miller

Barela

2020

New Drctns Evaluation

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Twenty-first century evaluators face an imperative to recognize their privileged role in navigating socially complex terrain in ways that are ethical, demonstrate sensitivity to local and global social inequities, and reflect awareness of contested views of reality. Social justice and equity are increasingly viewed as a foundation of practice, necessitating that evaluators learn how to address potential power imbalances occurring within evaluations, the larger contexts in which those evaluations occur, and the emerging profession itself. This chapter addresses how the 2018 American Evaluation Association (AEA) Evaluator Competencies may help evaluators direct explicit attention to issues of power, privilege, and equity. We discuss how these competencies can aid evaluators in honing their practice to support evaluation' s role in attaining social justice. We also spotlight some programmatic exemplars that offer insights and resources for this work.

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“…For example, those groups that do not seek to quantify the human experience or for groups that experience a logic system that is circular rather than linear, current methods and methodological preferences (e.g., the randomized control trial) would likely not be able to validate the contextual conversation. We would be remiss in not acknowledging those evaluation frameworks that have sought to address and validate issues of culture, equity, and responsiveness such as culturally responsive evaluation (Hood et al, 2015), transformative (Mertens, 2008), indigenous perspectives (e.g., Cram, 2009; LaFrance, Nichols, & Kirkhart, 2012), and equitable evaluation (EE; Dean-Coffey, Casey, & Caldwell, 2014). But these are considered departures from the espoused “norm.” One only need refer to earlier versions of the original Evaluation Theory Tree to view the branch of labeled “valuing” which assumed that such approaches branched off of Westernized perspectives to understand how approaches that address culture, social justice, and racism were viewed by the field (Christie & Alkin, 2013).…”

Section: A Brief Conversation About the Presence Of Structural Racismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Social Justice Live in a House of Structural Racism? A Question for the Field of Evaluation

Caldwell¹,

Bledsoe

2019

American Journal of Evaluation

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This article questions whether social justice can live within the structural racism present in the field of evaluation. Structural racism refers to the totality of ways in which societies foster racial discrimination through mutually reinforcing systems of housing, education, employment, earnings, benefits, credit, media, health care, and criminal justice. In order for social justice to be a professional standard of evaluation, the field must recognize, identify, and modify persistent learned behaviors associated with structural racism. We assert that all evaluators, regardless of demographic designation, are subject to perpetuating structural and institutional racism, found in the history and systems of the profession, by tacitly accepting the status quo norms of evaluation practice. Current norms, policies, and practices compromise the normalization of social justice in evaluation. Evaluators sanctioned and reinforced by their professional association, the American Evaluation Association, have the power to modify behaviors of evaluators that perpetuate social injustice in the discipline and field of professional evaluation. We highlight pioneering literature that intellectually protest and position paradigm shifts for equity. We acknowledge the presence of racial and ethnic colleagues, and professional statements about social justice as confrontations to structural racism found in the history and systems of the evaluation field. Finally, we propose a framework for professional behavior modification as a strategy for the extinction of structural racism in evaluation and assert that social justice can only be realized when structural racism is eradicated.

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Raising the Bar – Integrating Cultural Competence and Equity: Equitable Evaluation

Cited by 15 publications

References 30 publications

What’s Race Got to Do With It? Equity and Philanthropic Evaluation Practice

What’s Race Got to Do With It? Equity and Philanthropic Evaluation Practice

Power, Privilege, and Competence: Using the 2018 AEA Evaluator Competencies to Shape Socially Just Evaluation Practice

Can Social Justice Live in a House of Structural Racism? A Question for the Field of Evaluation

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