Evaluator Competencies to Improve Practice

Date

Thursday, March 14
12:30pm-3:00pm

Presenter(s)

Jean King, PhD
University of Minnesota

Jean King is Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development at the University of Minnesota where she has served as Director of the Minnesota Evaluation Studies Institute (MESI) for over 20 years. A long-time writer on participatory evaluation, she is the author of several books and numerous articles and chapters. Her most recent book, Interactive Evaluation Practice (with Laurie Stevahn), was published in 2013. As a Board member of the American Evaluation Association, she chaired the Competencies Task Force that developed AEA’s Program Evaluator Competencies, which were approved by the Board in May, 2018. Professor King has received several awards for her work, including the Myrdal Award for Evaluation Practice and the Ingle Award for Extraordinary Service from the American Evaluation Association, three teaching awards, and three community service awards. Her proudest achievement is having supervised over 100 U of M doctoral students to completion.

Description

  • Learn about the process used to develop the 2018 AEA Competencies for Program Evaluators
  • Examine and discuss specific competencies within each of the five broad competency domains
  • Understand how these competency domains relate to individual evaluation practice through a competency domain mapping activity
  • Reflect on their own strengths and opportunities for growth as an evaluator by completing a competencies self-assessment tool
  • Discuss implications for further professionalizing the field of evaluation

Purpose

Participants will learn:

  1. How the AEA Evaluator Competencies were developed and the recurring complex issues that surfaced throughout
  2. The set of AEA Evaluator Competencies is comprised of five broad domains, each containing specific competencies
  3. How the AEA Evaluator Competencies apply to people’s individual professional contexts, such as education, health, social services, business, government, international, nonprofit, etc.
  4. Personal strengths and opportunities for growth based on a competency self-assessment tool for reflection on individual evaluation practice
  5. Implications for further professionalizing the field of evaluation