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AEA's 2025 Call to Action and Policy Pivot to Meet the Moment

By Denise L. Baer, Ph.D., AEA Consultant

How should the American Evaluation Association do public engagement in 2025? In truth, we have the policy equivalent of “the problem with no name” (to borrow a 1963 metaphor from Betty Friedan), as leaders across America—from Congress to universities, business, and philanthropy—have yet to agree on whether we have a problem at all. It is our evaluator wheelhouse to engage in problem definition, and this “problem with no name” is no exception. Best practices in public engagement teach us that it must be member-driven, and this Advocacy Newsletter represents a call for AEA members to join forces and take action in new ways.

Yes, some are seeking to name the problem as rising authoritarianism, and there may be some truth in that. But as evaluators, we have a unique vantage point in defending our AEA competencies, standards, and expertise as an antidote to extreme polarization. What is vitally missing in current policy debates is how AEA evaluators inform accountable and transparent evidence-based and data-driven decision-making.

The AEA leadership is committed to developing new policy initiatives, both short- and long-term. Beyond direct advocacy to the executive branch, AEA has a unique leadership portfolio as a non-governmental organization (NGO) membership association of practicing professionals. Moving forward, AEA will expand member public engagement to build capacity and empower grassroots members in evaluation policy advocacy and leadership, and it invites your input and participation.

This marks a multi-pronged policy pivot for AEA following the heady days when the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence Act) was signed into law by President Trump on January 14, 2019. AEA has been rightfully proud of its role in the enactment of the Evidence Act, which formalized evaluative evidence within federal policy arenas and acknowledged the professional contributions of evaluators through the creation of Evaluation Officers within federal agencies.

Problem definition requires us to grapple with the magnitude of the new federal policy landscape: the firmament of the Evidence Act still stands, but it has been hollowed out. The U.S. federal foreign aid freeze announced on January 20 by the incoming administration became a canary-in-the-coal-mine event for evaluators working globally, as many lost their jobs and entire agencies or private-sector evaluation firms were closed or downsized. In the following months, rescissions and grant cancellations were announced in many other sectors where AEA members are engaged—local communities, education, museums and libraries, and health, to name just a few. More ominously, the restructuring of the U.S. civil service has made evaluators “at-will” managers, decreased the independence of statistical agencies, and introduced presidentially defined concepts such as a “gold standard science” and a “two-gender policy,” both of which lie outside the mainstream of established science and social science research and methods.

Looking at the evaluation policy landscape in the Fall of 2025, it is hard to believe that in just seven short months the evidence enabling system so celebrated in the Evidence Act, encompassing academic researchers, statistical agencies, universities, and the evaluator community, has been so seriously undermined. Four other landscape changes are noteworthy:

Paradoxically, the Evidence Act Commission omitted strengthening Congress as a policy partner and many of the congressional leaders and champions who led the evidence movement from the 1990s on have passed from the scene. AEA will need to work with mentoring a new generation of evidence-based policy leaders and that includes AEA members.
The hyper speed with which 2025 policy changes have occurred via executive orders and abbreviated rule-making comment periods has confounded the traditional policy process. AEA will likely need to find new ways to do “Rapid Response” to policy changes that require real-time responses based on policy and political time.
While traditional evaluations have been defunded, AI is being promoted and adopted in transformative ways at federal levels that confound the existing Evidence Act close link between data and evaluation policies. Recent Executive Orders on AI promote American AI dominance through deregulation, infrastructure investment, and international competition and have ordered revisions to federal AI risk management frameworks to eliminate references to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and other concepts. AEA may need to revisit how AEA positions its evaluation policy, distinct from data policies.
Even as the federal support for evaluation wanes, there are growing evaluation opportunities at state, local, tribal, and community levels. AEA can expand our footprint by working with TIGs and local affiliate leadership to utilize member expertise in advocacy and policy and engage locally in new ways around our values.

The strategic goal here is reimaging and repositioning AEA as an association thought leader and finding paths forward that make clear that our AEA values are our strength. AEA is uniquely positioned as a transdisciplinary community of practice that works domestically and globally. AEA remains confident that there will be a “morning after” and AEA can lead here. While this will be a big change for AEA as we learn to inform others, build effective coalitions with partners and allies and meaningfully defend our values in public arenas, there are opportunities here.

How do you see the current “problem with no name”? We invite you to share your ideas and expertise with your fellow AEA members as we work to develop and implement this strategic vision. We are planning for small member-only virtual sessions before and after Eval25, aptly themed Engaging Communities, Sharing Leadership, where we will gather together in-person in Kansas City for those of us able to join. Please stay tuned for new opportunities to act, network, and dialogue with your fellow AEA members. In the interim, please share your challenges and opportunities as you see them and let us know your availability to engage in member-driven capacity building around AEA thought leadership by emailing us at evaladvocates@eval.org.

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Upcoming Events

The Evolution of Evaluation: Meeting the Moment

Washington, D.C. | Tuesday, September 16 | 5:00 p.m. ET
In collaboration with Washington Evaluators

Join us for a timely in-person panel exploring how evaluators can adapt and thrive during a period of significant change across the federal landscape. Experienced voices from multiple sectors will share innovative approaches to practice, evolving roles for evaluators, and strategies to demonstrate impact in complex environments. The evening will include a panel discussion, Q&A, and a networking reception.

Evaluation Policy Task Force (EPTF) Town Hall

Virtual | Thursday, September 18 | 2:00 p.m. ET

AEA's Evaluation Policy Task Force (EPTF) needs your input to update the influential Evaluation Roadmap for a More Effective Government for today's challenges and opportunities. the EPTF is inviting AEA members to offer their perspectives on strengthening the Roadmap's relevance and the EPTF’s impact for the next five years. Your voice will help determine how evaluation can be embedded and defended in various levels and types of governments. Registration is required to attend.

Recent Event

Policy on the Rocks: AI in Public Policy

Washington, D.C. | Tuesday, September 9
Hosted by APPAM and sponsored by AEA

This in-person panel brought together AEA evaluator Denise Baer with policy experts Erdal Tekin, Zachary Arnold, Justine Gluck, and Caroline Jeanmaire. The discussion covered research, employment, and global/EU perspectives, providing a robust exchange of diverse points of view on AI and public policy. More than 100 policy analysts, data experts, evaluators, and students attended, gaining a broader understanding of the catalytic nature of new large language model (LLM) technologies, as well as AI applications and evaluator perspectives on potential challenges.

An emerging question for AI policy—amidst more than 200 executive orders and the release of the White House AI Action Plan in July—is whether AI adoption under the new administration could turn the Evidence Act upside down by mixing program data with statistical data and allowing political appointees to determine what constitutes rigor and high-quality evidence.

Learn more about Policy on the Rocks and stay tuned for upcoming events.

AEA Advocacy Now Newsletter: September 2025