Hi everyone! We have just returned from the annual American
Evaluation Association Conference in Chicago – and what a great conference it
was. The theme of this year’s conference, “Exemplary Evaluations in a
Multicultural World,” may have been one of the most relevant themes to our
work in recent years.
In addition to participating in numerous sessions and
workshops, we had the opportunity to present our experiences related to
evaluating Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) Programs across three counties in Southern California. During the presentation we shared
how we ensure that our evaluations capture the voices of the various
populations participating in PEI Programs. We also discussed lessons learned
and challenges experienced. If you’re interested in the full presentation,
please click on the following link:
Key take-aways that emerged across the various
sessions included:
- The importance of being inclusive of varying perspectives and populations as we design and implement measurement strategies.
- Evaluators should be aware of their own limitations in terms of cultural competence and be mindful of seeking external expertise if working on evaluations that require obtaining the perspective of cultures the evaluator might not be familiar with.
- The term "culture" goes beyond just race but also includes sub-populations and sub-cultures such as the LGBTQ community and marginalized groups.
- Clear standards for identifying "cultural competence" are still lacking in the field; however, work is being conducted to fill this gap.
More information about the American Evaluation Association can be found at the following link: http://www.eval.org/
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