AEA Mission, Vision, and Values

The American Evaluation Association seeks to act in ways that embody our mission, vision, and values in pursuit of our defined policies and goals.

MISSION: The American Evaluation Association’s mission is to improve evaluation practices and methods, increase evaluation use, promote evaluation as a profession, and support the contribution of evaluation to the generation of theory and knowledge about effective human action.

VISION: The American Evaluation Association’s vision is to foster an inclusive, diverse, and international community of practice positioned as a respected source of information for and about the field of evaluation.

VALUES: The American Evaluation Association values excellence in evaluation practice, utilization of evaluation findings, and inclusion and diversity in the evaluation community.

1. We value high-quality, ethically defensible, culturally responsive evaluation practices that lead to effective and humane organizations and ultimately to the enhancement of the public good.
2. We value high-quality, ethically defensible, culturally responsive evaluation practices that contribute to decision-making processes, program improvement, and policy formulation
3. We value a global and international evaluation community and an understanding of evaluation practices.
4. We value the continual development of evaluation professionals and the development of evaluators from under-represented groups.
5. We value inclusiveness and diversity, welcoming members at any point in their career, from any context, and representing a range of thought and approaches.
6. We value efficient, effective, responsive, transparent, and socially responsible association operations.

AEA End Goals

The purpose of the Board of Directors, on behalf of the Evaluation Community and those it affects and influences (“owners”), is to ensure that AEA produces appropriate results (as defined in Ends Goals) and focus efforts to support the mission and vision of the organization.

The AEA End Goals are defined as:

• 1.0     The American Evaluation Association exists to contribute to the common good by improving evaluation theory, practice, and methods; increasing evaluation use promoting evaluation as a profession; and supporting the contribution of evaluation to the theory and knowledge about effective human action and equitable systems and markets, at a cost that justifies individual annual membership dues. Accordingly, and in order of priority, the American Evaluation Association invests its resources in the following:
• 1.1      Members interact to promote high-quality evaluation practice and professional leadership.
• 1.2      Members benefit from professional affiliation, leadership opportunities, and inclusion within a diverse community.
• 1.3      Members have the competencies needed to engage in high-quality evaluation that is edifying, ethical, culturally and contextually responsive, useful, and that demonstrates scholarship.
• 1.4     Student members have ample opportunities to develop the leadership skills and competencies needed to practice evaluation and contribute to the association and the evaluation knowledge base.
• 1.5      Evaluation contributes to increased public understanding of challenging issues and solutions.
• 1.6      The public (government, communities, and the philanthropic sector) understands the value of, engages in, and learns from evaluation.