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AEA365 contributor, Curated by Elizabeth Grim

Community Development TIG Week: Reframe Reluctance when Partnering with Communities on Research and Evaluation Projects by Sylvia Pu

Hello. I’m Sylvia Pu, a researcher, evaluator, and career coach at Sylvia Pu Consulting. My work focuses on measuring and diversifying school-to-career pathways. For the past few years, I have been working on co-creating solutions with communities using participatory and community-engaged methods. In this post, I want to invite you to reframe community reluctance to …

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Community Development TIG Week: Community Development is at the Core of Evaluating Place-Based Systems Change by Matthew Closter and David Hanson

Hi, we’re Matthew Closter and David Hanson, here to share reflections on the role of community development in advancing place-based systems change. As evaluators focused on racial equity, we have extensive knowledge and experience positioning evaluations to center and uplift community voice. Matthew Closter, Director at Equal Measure, has more than 15 years’ experience in …

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Community Development TIG Week: Navigating Evaluation Approaches for Community Development Impact by Norma Kok

Hi! I’m Norma Kok, and I lead the Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning Department at Citizen Leader Lab in Cape Town, South Africa. I hold a Master’s degree in Public Health and extensive experience (16 years) in monitoring and evaluation in various national and international organizations. Over the years I have witnessed the transformative power …

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Community Development TIG Week: Integrative Community Therapy: Building Community While Supporting Mental Health in Allentown, PA by Cheryl Arndt, Samantha Shaak, and Edward Norris

We are Cheryl Arndt, PhD, Samantha Shaak, PhD, and Edward Norris, MD from the Leonard Parker Pool Institute for Health (LPPIH) at Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) in Allentown, PA. The Institute focuses on creating meaningful and sustained improvements in overall health through innovations targeting the drivers that influence health within a community, or the vital …

Community Development TIG Week: Integrative Community Therapy: Building Community While Supporting Mental Health in Allentown, PA by Cheryl Arndt, Samantha Shaak, and Edward Norris Read More »

Community Development TIG Week: Learnings from Applying Asset Based Community Development by Tatiana Bustos

Hello AEA community! My name is Dr. Tatiana Bustos, and I am a community engaged researcher, evaluator, and community psychologist. In my evaluation practice, I apply community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles. For Community Development (CD) TIG week, I wanted to share some learnings from applying an asset-based community development (ABCD) framework for a project, the …

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Leveraging National Partnerships to Further Our Work Around Social Determinants of Health by Cheryl Arndt and Samantha Shaak

Hi, we are Cheryl Arndt, PhD and Samantha Shaak, PhD writing to you from the Leonard Parker Pool Institute for Health (LPPIH) in Allentown, PA. The institute, which was founded in 2021, has a unique decades-long history that you can read about here. At LPPIH, we are fortunate to be partnering with national thought-leaders who help us move forward with our work. We thought that other evaluators could benefit from knowing what we have learned about national partnerships. Specifically, our partners have helped us to: clarify the role of the health system in addressing social determinants of healthy, engage our community authentically, and access relevant data, and center equity in our place-based work.

Checklist for Sustaining an International Evaluation Community of Practice by Kim Norris

Hi, I’m Kim Norris, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Director for American Institutes for Research (AIR)’s International Development Division. I’ve had the joy of establishing, contributing to and benefiting from a number of Communities of Practices (CoPs) in the field of evaluation since beginning professional work too long ago to mention here. From exchanging ideas and perspectives with peers from around the world, to improving skills and learning from our unique and sometimes shared experiences, CoPs have been invaluable to my own development. Like any evaluator, I also realize that for CoPs to be successful, guidelines and measures help everyone involved make full use of CoP resources and opportunities. So, I developed a checklist and questions gathered from experiences, discussions with colleagues and the many resources available on the subject.

PreK-12 and Education Evaluation TIG Week: To Use or Not to Use Sentiment Analysis: Lessons Learned From Research Which Can Inform Evaluation by Kinsey Simone

Hello! My name is Dr. Kinsey Simone, and I am an instructor of graduate Quantitative Research Methods at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, Tennessee. My PhD is in Program Planning & Evaluation, and my primary research and evaluation interests pertain to the effectiveness of large-scale events to decrease stigmas towards and increase awareness of invisible disorders, …

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PreK-12 and Education Evaluation TIG Week: We Treasure What We Measure: Student Work as Thermometers of School Climate by Vo Ram Yoon, Mira Best, Ian Rashleigh McNally, and Kasia Razynska

We are Vo Ram Yoon, Mira Best, Ian Rashleigh McNally, and Kasia Razynska, the evaluation team at the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium (MAEC), and we partner with public school districts to conduct equity audits and assessments that foster more inclusive learning environments for students, families, and staff. As part of this work, we administer school climate …

PreK-12 and Education Evaluation TIG Week: We Treasure What We Measure: Student Work as Thermometers of School Climate by Vo Ram Yoon, Mira Best, Ian Rashleigh McNally, and Kasia Razynska Read More »

PreK-12 and Education Evaluation TIG Week: Learning from Legislation: Navigating Challenges to DEI in Educational Evaluation by Marlana Lastres

I am Marlana Lastres, an instructor in the College of Education at Tennessee Tech University. I teach graduate courses on qualitative research and at-risk populations. Additionally, my work extends to evaluation, where I often collaborate on grant projects, accreditation tasks, and program reviews, to enhance institutional effectiveness. Currently, many public higher education institutions are learning …

PreK-12 and Education Evaluation TIG Week: Learning from Legislation: Navigating Challenges to DEI in Educational Evaluation by Marlana Lastres Read More »