Policy Watch

By Nathan Varnell, Consultant for Evaluation Policy Task Force

The American Evaluation Association announced results from a recent survey which found that federal evaluation officials made significant progress implementing the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act in recent years. According to participants of the survey, implementation of the Evidence Act greatly enhanced the influence of evaluation in key areas of federal agency decision-making. Developed in partnership with the Data Foundation, Measuring Progress: 2024 Survey of Federal Evaluation Officials provides insights into the evolving role of federal evaluation officers and the opportunities that remain for further institutionalizing evidence-building cultures. The full open access report, including recommendations for the evaluation community, is available on the Data Foundation’s website.

Evaluation 2024  

We are thrilled to share the highlights of Evaluation 2024, which took place in beautiful Portland, Oregon! This year’s conference brought together 3,122 attendees, showcased 300 posters, and featured 312 sessions, each contributing to the vibrant dialogue and exchange of ideas.

The theme, “Amplifying and Empowering Voices in Evaluation,” resonated throughout the event, especially in the Presidential Strand presentations. These sessions reflected the commitment to inclusivity and empowerment, and we are excited to announce that all Presidential Strand sessions were recorded and will be available for purchase soon.

One special highlight was the debut of the Evaluation 2024 theme song, set to the tune of Tracy Chapman’s iconic “Fast Car.” With heartfelt lyrics by Michael Quinn Patton and Brandon Patton, and a powerful performance by Brandon Patton, the song premiered during the “Learning from Failure” session on October 24, 2024.

Watch the Full Video

Check out Evaluation 2023’s theme song, “The Power of Story”.

Thank you to everyone who made Evaluation 2024 an incredible success. Your energy, insights, and commitment continue to inspire the evaluation community. We can’t wait to see you again next year!

Annual Business Meeting 

Last month, AEA hosted an in-person and virtual annual business meetings. The meetings focused on AEA’s accomplishments in 2024 and the new initiatives we are looking forward to in 2025. Members of the AEA Board were on hand to answer questions from members and provide further insights into AEA’s priorities. If you missed either meeting, you can watch the virtual recording here.

Support the AEA Annual Fund 

AEA relies on the generous donations of our community to offer year-round programming, resources, and community engagement to members and the evaluation community at large. Your donation, no matter the size, makes an impact in bringing evaluation programing to 5,000+ professionals, including students, evaluators underrepresented in the field, and international evaluators, who may not otherwise have access to these resources.

As we approach the giving season, please consider a donation to AEA to improve our programs and ability to serve you, our members.

Make a Gift

President's Annual Funding Campaign

At Evaluation 2024, AEA President Felicia Bohanon announced the new giving campaign, the President's Annual Funding Campaign.

With your generous, tax-deductible pledge of $500 annually over the next five years, you’ll directly support key initiatives that strengthen our profession, enhance member services, and expand opportunities for learning and collaboration. Felicia has pledged to donate $500 over the next five years and invites you to as well.

Learn More

Volunteer with AEA 

AEA is now accepting applicants for volunteer opportunities in 2025! To apply, complete the application form and select your top three choices for Working Group selections by Friday, January 3, 2025. AEA relies on volunteers for their expertise and vision in driving the association forward.

The Following Working Groups are Recruiting Volunteers in 2025:
 

• Awards Working Group
• Conference Advisory Working Group
• Nominations & Elections Working Group
• Professional Development Working Group
• Foundational Documents Task Force

Learn more about volunteering with AEA.

GEDI Host Applications 

Calling all prospective sites! Host site applications for the American Evaluation Association Graduate Education Diversity Internship program are now open. Host sites provide meaningful evaluation project work and mentoring to interns. GEDI Interns are among the best and brightest graduate students in the country. They are learning through the internship to transfer their strong inquiry skills to real-life situations in organizations, agencies, and firms. Host site obligations include:
 

• Providing a meaningful evaluation internship experience.
• Identifying a staff member with significant evaluation experience to serve as an on-site mentor.
• Integrating the GEDI intern as a valued member of your staff.
• Paying directly to the intern a $15,000 stipend and to AEA the $16,000 program participation costs. This is a total of $31,000 commitment from the host site.
• Increasing organizational knowledge and capacity around culturally responsive evaluation.

Visit the AEA website to learn more about program components, eligibility criteria, and application process. All required materials must be received by AEA staff by Friday, January 17, 2024. You can access the application for sites on the site or here.

Questions about the program? You can view the Host Site webinar recording on the site and hear from GEDI Program Leadership as they discuss the GEDI program experience from the host site’s perspective and answer your questions. This is an excellent opportunity to get an inside perspective on what it is like to be a host site and the expectations.

If you have any further questions, please reference our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. Or contact AEA at gedi@eval.org.

New Release: 2024 CDC Program Evaluation Framework

The CDC has released the 2024 CDC Program Evaluation Framework, an update to the 1999 framework, which has been a vital resource for conducting high-quality program evaluations since it was first published 25 years ago. We are proud to share that Elena Luna, GEDI alumi from the 2018 cohort, supported this effort.

The 2024 framework maintains the simplicity and flexibility of the 1999 framework, while introducing key updates. The most substantial innovation is the addition of three cross-cutting actions that are foundational to incorporate into evaluation planning and implementation emphasizing collaboration, advancing equity, and using findings.

The updated framework can be used across a wide array of contexts, including emerging and evolving ones by anyone involved in program evaluation efforts. The framework can be used alone or in conjunction with other evaluation approaches, tools, or methods to conduct high-quality evaluations, build evidence, understand programs, and support evidence-based decision-making to improve program outcomes.

CDC is releasing the new framework as a MMWR Recommendations and Reports. The new framework demonstrates CDC’s commitment to drive equitable, timely, and high-quality program evaluations that help CDC’s programs and partners achieve public health outcomes. In addition, the CDC is posting an Action Guide that is as a complement to the CDC Program Evaluation Framework and serves as a how-to guide for planning, designing, and implementing evaluations in a practical way.

TIG Updates: LaRED Celebrates 10 Years

Join the LaRED (Latinx Responsive Evaluation Discourse) TIG as they celebrate 10 years as a TIG. Formed in 2014, the goal was to form a community of scholars and practitioners focused on culturally responsive and equitable evaluation with the Latinx community. This comunidad was created to inspire evaluators dedicated to social justice and fair evaluations, and to encourage new ideas, critiques, and analyses of current evaluation practices within the Latinx community. The framework of this community aims to transform mainstream narratives and discussions into collective learning and adaptation, promoting empowerment and solidarity to address real-world challenges. (Aponte-Soto et al. 2024)

Learn more about LaRED and their 10 year journey through their LaRED 10th Anniversary poster and their recent aea365 post here.

“LaRED establish a jumping off point for Latinos and Latinas in AEA to be able to start to move towards contributing at a more significant level to the direction of AEA. I mean both in terms of exercising leadership, ultimately being ultimately being elected to the board, to executive office, being participatory and even being the leads of some of the larger, more influential committees, and working groups.” — Arthur E. Hernández

Journal Spotlight 

New Directions for Evaluation (NDE): 

New Directions for Evaluation releases issue on Evaluating Evaluation Capacity Building

Join guest editors Megan López and Lyssa Wilson Becho (2024 AEA Marcia Guttentag Promising New Evaluator Awardee) for an exploration of how to effectively evaluate evaluation capacity building (ECB) interventions, what criteria to measure, and which approaches to take. Articles in this issue speak to the theory, methods, and application of ECB evaluation, and the issue ends with a call to action for the future. Reminder–AEA members have access to all NDE issues by logging in to the AEA website with their username and password.

Call for Junior Editors

Dr. Bianca Montrosse-Moorhead and Dr. Sarah Mason are pleased to announce the kickoff of the second year of the New Directions for Evaluation Junior Editor program!

Call: tinyurl.com/NDEJuniorEditor2024 

Application: tinyurl.com/NDEJuniorEditor2024App (Must have a google account to complete the form.)

Deadline: December 13, 2024, at 5:00 pm (U.S. Pacific Standard Time)

NDE Mini Mic Interviews

During Evaluation 2024, New Directions for Evaluation Junior Editors recorded mini mic interviews with attendees. These will be released over the coming months. So, be sure to follow NDE’s LinkedIn and Instagram pages. The first one is already posted to both sites!

AEA Publishing Corner

Share your accomplishments with AEA! We are excited to introduce the AEA Publishing Corner, which will spotlight work published by our members. If you have a recent publication or professional accomplishment you would like to share, please submit it here.

Congratulations to AEA member Sebastian Lemire and co-authors, Allan Porowski, Kaity Mumma for the publication of their whitepaper, How We Model Matters – Visualizing Program Theories, published by Abt Associates.