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Session Title: Learning From Evaluation in Service of Social Justice: Who learns? What is Learned? And Why Does it Matter?
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Panel Session 685 to be held in Baltimore Theater on Friday, November 9, 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM
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Sponsored by the Presidential Strand
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| Chair(s): |
| Sharon Brisolara,
Evaluation Solutions,
evaluationsolutions@hughes.net
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| Discussant(s):
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| Saumitra SenGupta,
APS Healthcare,
ssengupta@apshealthcare.com
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| Abstract:
This panel focuses on the character and critical importance of learning that takes place in social-justice oriented evaluation. Two conceptual papers address philosophical and political perspectives on why and how evaluation practice committed to advancing social justice presents meaningful and important opportunities for learning and what the character of that learning is. Presenters address ways of attending to social justice, how attending to these issues shapes the role of the evaluator, and what implications attending to social justice has for the profession, the communities we serve, and the larger society. Two practice-oriented papers will address the significant learning that has taken place within evaluations attending to social justice concerns. Practitioners representing diverse cultural and political contexts who use identity based and other evaluation models address what attending to social justice looks like within an evaluation and offer examples of learning that can occur in this genre of evaluation practice.
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Transformative Evaluation in Service of Social Justice
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| Donna Mertens,
Gallaudet University,
donna.mertens@gallaudet.edu
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| Raychelle Harris,
Gallaudet University,
raychelle.harris@gallaudet.edu
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| Heidi Holmes,
Gallaudet University,
heidi.holmes@gallaudet.edu
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The transformative paradigm is a metaphysical framework that places social justice and the advancement of human rights at the forefront in evaluation work. This presentation will focus on basic belief systems and theoretical frames that have emerged from the evaluation community through their engagement with culturally complex communities who have been pushed to the margins throughout history. The transformative paradigm is commensurate with feminist, critical race, queer, and disability rights theories, and offers ways to explore opportunities for evaluators, members of complex cultural groups, and society writ large to learn how to better serve social justice and human rights agendas. Implications from theory will be explored in terms of the role of the evaluator and strategies for community engagement.
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Contextualizing Social Justice in Evaluation
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| Jennifer Greene,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
jcgreene@uiuc.edu
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| Jori Hall,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
jorihall@uiuc.edu
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Evaluation in service of social justice offers multiple and diverse opportunities for learning and for action - both focused on the legitimization of the perspectives, experiences, and value stances of those with the least power and authority in a given evaluation context. The particular character of injustice and inequity in a given context - historically and in present times - importantly defines the possibilities of evaluation to authentically engage with issues of justice. To vividly illustrate both the potential and the contextual boundaries of an evaluation approach committed to social justice, this presentation will use the medium of performance. Ongoing fieldwork of an evaluation that is particularly attentive to understanding the experiences and values held by those most often marginalized within a particular setting will provide the contexts for this performative presentation.
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Who is There? Wading Through Labels to Reach Meaning
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| Denice Cassaro,
Cornell University,
dac11@cornell.edu
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Through the illustration of an evaluation spanning a 5 year period, I will demonstrate how social justice/advocacy was incorporated by a focus on identities and their intersections in the evaluation process. What will be examined are ways of incorporating an educational component into the evaluation process that attempts to broaden understandings of identities (beyond binaries like female/male, black/white, gay/heterosexual), to illustrate the significance of the intersections of identities, and to shed light on how systemic oppression is perpetuated. The hope is to further efforts towards social change and justice with evaluation practice serving as a powerful medium in that process. Similarities and differences in approaches based on various identities and their intersections will also be explored as it relates to advocacy within the evaluation process.
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From Social Justice to Better Evaluations
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| Katrina Bledsoe,
The College of New Jersey,
katrina.bledsoe@gmail.com
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Focusing on Social Justice is useful in fostering a deeper understanding of the evaluation context and in promoting the utilization of evaluation findings. This presentation further focused on how the inclusion of a social justice perspective can lead to increased accuracy in program development and evaluation. This presentation examines the author's work with the Trenton Obesity Prevention Study as an example of the usefulness of a social justice position.
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