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Practical Wisdom for an Ethical Evaluation Practice
This book provides a contemporary and thought-provoking exploration of the concept of practical wisdom--what it is and how it can be incorporated into evaluation practice. It defines what practical wisdom is, explores its roots, where it stands today, what constitutes the "wise" evaluator, and how we can develop sound judgment in an unpredictable and chaotic time. It brings together evaluation thought leaders and practitioners to examine the concept of practical wisdom. The authors’ enlightening essays are interwoven with reflective strands comprised of commentaries, examples, and new ideas added by Hurteau and her colleagues that offer a recursive and intricate pattern of reflection on th...
The State of Nonprofit America
"Examines the private nonprofit sector and the tax-exempt institutions that make up this sector providing important services and benefits to all Americans, with histories behind different institutions and the forces and developments that have buffeted them and what they have done to retain their resilience"--Provided by publisher.
Using Appreciative Inquiry in Evaluation
This issue explores the potential role of Appreciative Inquiry, a process that searches for what is best in people and organizations, in evaluation. Contributors examine Appreciative Inquiry's approach and impact on the use of evaluation processes and findings, the contextual factors or conditions that make its use in evaluation appropriate, and the challenges of using it. Chapters also provide an overview of Appreciative Inquiry and how it fits within the landscape of evaluation practice, four case studies, and commentary and critique of specific points in this issue, as well as broader consideration of the possibilities that Appreciative Inquiry offers to evaluation practice. By offering evaluators an approach and method for discovering and building on the positive aspects of a program, Appreciative Inquiry is an valuable resource for evaluators. This issue is an indispensable guide to that resource.
In Search of Cultural Competence in Evaluation Toward Principles and Practices
This volume focuses on culturally competent evaluation. The chapters address a number of questions: How does culture matter in evaluation theory and practice? How does attention to cultural issues make for better evaluation practice? How does attention to cultural issues make for better evaluation practice? What is the "value-addedness" of cultural competence in evaluation? How do the complexities, challenges, and politics of diversity issue affect evaluation? The first chapter is an overview of culture, cultural competence, and culturally competent evaluation; the other chapters provide case studies on the implementation of culturally competent evaluation in a variety of settings and with several populations. The volume contributors also present lessons learned from their experiences and recommendations for implementing cultural competent evaluations in general. This volume is part of an important discussion of race, culture, and diversity in evaluation striving to shape and advance culturally competent evaluation, and, in tandem, evaluation of culturally competent services. This is the 102nd issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Evaluation.
Co-Constructing a Contextually Responsive Evaluation Framework: The Talent Development Model of Reform
This volume presents the Talent Development evaluation framework, an approach for evaluating urban school reform interventions deeply embedded in the work of the Howard University Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk (CRESPAR) and the Talent Development Model of School Reform. The CRESPAR Talent Development (TD) evaluation approach is rooted in several traditions of evaluation that intentionally seek engagement with contexts of practice. These traditions include responsive, participatory, empowerment, and culturally competent approaches to evaluation. The CRESPAR TD evaluation approach also takes up themes of inclusiveness and partnership advanced by the recent pro...
Advocacy and Policy Change Evaluation
This is the first book-length treatment of the concepts, designs, methods, and tools needed to conduct effective advocacy and policy change evaluations. By integrating insights from different disciplines, Part I provides a conceptual foundation for navigating advocacy tactics within today's turbulent policy landscape. Part II offers recommendations for developing appropriate evaluation designs and working with unique advocacy and policy change–oriented instruments. Part III turns toward opportunities and challenges in this growing field. In addition to describing actual designs and measures, the chapters includes suggestions for addressing the specific challenges of working in a policy setting, such as a long time horizon for achieving meaningful change. To illuminate and advance this area of evaluation practice, the authors draw on over 30 years of evaluation experience; collective wisdom based on a new, large-scale survey of evaluators in the field; and in-depth case studies on diverse issues—from the environment, to public health, to human rights. Ideal for evaluators, change makers, and funders, this book is the definitive guide to advocacy and policy change evaluation.
Promoting the Use of Government Evaluations in Policymaking
Public policymaking is a high-stakes business that affects millions of citizens and budgets ranging in the billions of tax dollars in even the smallest of states. Policymakers need timely evaluative information reported in understandable language by unbiased sources. It is this need that evaluators at all levels of government, as well as those in many nonprofit organizations, seek to meet as they conduct evaluations, analyze policy options, and recommend action on the part of policymakers. The authors contributing to this volume examine theoretical and practical approaches to designing evaluation projects in ways that promote the use of evaluation results in high-stakes settings. The volume ...
Independent Evaluation Consulting
This volume was inspired by stimulation and insights gained over the years from conversations among independent consultants at the annual conferences of the American Evaluation Association (AEA)-- conversations not just about evaluation projects -- and should serve as a springboard to ongoing discussion among evaluators.
International Perspectives on Evaluation Standards
Prior to 1995, there were fewer than half a dozen regional and national evaluation organizations around the world. Today there are more than fifty, attesting to a growing interest in the practice of program evaluation internationally. Many of these new organizations have undertaken efforts to develop their own standards or to modify existing sets--most typically, the Program Evaluation Standards of the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation--for use in their own cultural context. Following two introductory chapters, one a conceptual overview and the second a history of the development and revisions of the Program Evaluation Standards, this issue documents standards developme...
Pitfalls and Pratfalls: Null and Negative Findings in Evaluating Interventions
This volume examines the problem of null or negative evaluation findings, a topic rarely discussed in the literature but all too commonplace in the experience of evaluators. The Southern California Center of Excellence on Youth Violence Prevention, housed in the Robert Presley Center for Crime and Justice Studies at the University of California, Riverside, has taken up the challenge to discuss candidly evaluation efforts that can be described only as challenging. The individual chapters discuss a range of design, implementation, and analysis issues relevant not only to evaluation studies but also to interventions that can contribute to negative or null findings in the evaluation of an interv...
