Continuing the Journey to Reposition Culture and Cultural Context in Evaluation Theory and Practice

Edited by:
Stafford Hood, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Rodney Hopson, George Mason University
Henry Frierson, University of Florida

A volume in the series: Evaluation and Society. Editor(s): Stewart I. Donaldson, Claremont Graduate University. Katrina L. Bledsoe, Education Development Center.

Published 2014

Racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity has become of global importance in places where many never would have imagined. Increasing diversity in the U.S., Europe, Africa, New Zealand, and Asia strongly suggests that a homogeneity-based focus is rapidly becoming an historical artifact. Therefore, culturally responsive evaluation (CRE) should no longer be viewed as a luxury or an option in our work as evaluators. The continued amplification of racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity and awareness among the populations of the U.S. and other western nations insists that social science researchers and evaluators inextricably engage culturally responsive approaches in their work. It is unacceptable for most mainstream university evaluation programs, philanthropic agencies, training institutes sponsored by federal agencies, professional associations, and other entities to promote professional evaluation practices that do not attend to CRE. Our global demographics are a reality that can be appropriately described and studied within the context of complexity theory and theory of change (e.g., Stewart, 1991; Battram, 1999). And this perspective requires a distinct shift from “simple” linear cause-effect models and reductionist thinking to include more holistic and culturally responsive approaches.

The development of policy that is meaningfully responsive to the needs of traditionally disenfranchised stakeholders and that also optimizes the use of limited resources (human, natural, and financial) is an extremely complex process. Fortunately, we are presently witnessing developments in methods, instruments, and statistical techniques that are mixed methods in their paradigm/designs and likely to be more effective in informing policymaking and decision-making. Culturally responsive evaluation is one such phenomenon that positions itself to be relevant in the context of dynamic international and national settings where policy and program decisions take place. One example of a response to address this dynamic and need is the newly established Center for Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment (CREA) in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

CREA is an outgrowth of the collective work and commitments of a global community of scholars and practitioners who have contributed chapters to this edited volume. It is an international and interdisciplinary evaluation center that is grounded in the need for designing and conducting evaluations and assessments that embody cognitive, cultural, and interdisciplinary diversity so as to be actively responsive to culturally diverse communities and their aspirations. The Center’s purpose is to address questions, issues, theories, and practices related to CRE and culturally responsive educational assessment. Therefore, CREA can serve as a vehicle for our continuing discourse on culture and cultural context in evaluation and also as a point of dissemination for not only the work that is included in this edited volume, but for the subsequent work it will encourage.

CONTENTS
Introduction: This Is Where We Continue to Stand, Stafford Hood, Rodney Hopson, and Henry Frierson. SECTION I: CRE THEORETICAL AND HISTORICAL LEGACIES AND EXTENSIONS. Culturally Responsive Theory-Driven Evaluation, Katrina L. Bledsoe and Stewart I. Donaldson. A Systems Approach to Culturally Responsive Evaluation Practice: Culturally Responsive Uses of the Systems Evaluation Protocol (SEP), Wanda D. Casillas and William M. Trochim. Cultural Views of Validity: A Conversation, Joan LaFrance, Karen E. Kirkhart, and Richard Nichols. An Analysis of Love My Children: Rose Butler Browne’s Contributions to Culturally Responsive Evaluation, Pamela Frazier-Anderson and Tamara Bertrand Jones. SECTION II: EVALUATORS’ JOURNEYS OF INTROSPECTION AND SELF-EXPLORATION. Culture and Evaluation: From a Transcultural Belvedere, Jennifer C. Greene. Culturally Responsive Evaluation as a Resource for Helpful-Help, Hazel Symonette. Peeling Open the Kiwi: Reterritorializing (Pākehā/White) Evaluation in Aotearoa New Zealand, Rae Torrie, Mathea Roorda, Robin Peace, Mark Dalgety, and Robyn Bailey. Beginning a Conversation About Spirituality in Māori and Pasifika Evaluation, Vivienne Kennedy, Fiona Cram, Kirimatao Paipa, Kataraina Pipi, Maria Baker, Laurie Porima, Pale Sauni and Clark Tuagalu. Cultural Reactivity vs. Cultural Responsiveness: Addressing Macro Issues Starting With Micro Changes in Evaluation, Dominica McBride. SECTION III: APPLICATIONS OF CRE IN GLOBAL AND INDIGENOUS SCHOOL CONTEXTS. Culture Changes, Irish Evaluation and Assessment Traditions Stay the Same? Exploring Peer- and Self-Assessment as a Means of Empowering Ethnic Minority Students, Joe O’Hara, Gerry McNamara, Kathy Harrison. Implementing Culturally Sensitive Assessment Tools for the Inclusion Of Roma Children in Mainstream Schools, S. Mitakidou, E. Tressou, and P. Karagianni. Evaluating Alch’i’ni Ba/For the Children: The Troubled Cultural Work of an Indigenous Teacher Education Project, Carolyne J. White and Guy Senese. SECTION IV: CLAIMING NEW TERRITORIES OF CRE: CULTURALLY SPECIFIC METHODS, APPROACHES, AND ECOLOGIES. A Transformative Framework for Culturally Responsive Evaluation, Donna M. Mertens and Heather Zimmerman. Being Culturally Responsive Through Kaupapa Māori Evaluation, Fiona Cram, Vivienne Kennedy, Kirimatao Paipa, Kataraina Pipi, and Nan Wehipeihana. Culturally Responsive Methods for Family Centered Evaluation, Kirimatao Paipa, Fiona Cram, Vivienne Kennedy, and Kataraina Pipi. Culturally Responsive Indigenous Evaluation: A Practical Approach for Evaluating Indigenous Projects in Tribal Reservation Contexts, Nicole R. Bowman, Carolee Dodge Francis, and Monique Tyndall. Partnering with Pacific Communities to Ground Evaluation in Local Culture and Context: Promises and Challenges, Joan LaFrance, Sharon Nelson-Barber, Elizabeth D. Rechebei, and Janet Gordon. Epilogue: Toward the Next Generation and New Possibilities of Culturally Responsive Evaluation, Stafford Hood, Rodney Hopson, and Henry Frierson.