American Evaluation Association Conference November 2010

start:		10 November 2010
end:		13 November 2010
theme:		Evaluation Quality
venue:		Grand Hyatt San Antonio Texas
website:		http://www.eval.org/eval2010/10cfp.htm

Letter of Invitation to Submit for Evaluation 2010 from AEA's President

I invite you to submit a proposal to present at Evaluation 2010, the annual conference of the American Evaluation Association. This year we’ll be convening the week of November 8 in San Antonio, Texas. It will be my pleasure and privilege to preside at the conference. I have chosen Evaluation Quality as the conference theme. While we evaluate programs, policies, and other entities as a matter of course, we rarely have the opportunity to reflect on the evaluation of our own work or on the theoretical and practical issues associated with evaluation quality. I hope the 2010 conference will provide that opportunity. 

 

As a starting point for our exploration and discussion of this theme, the conference will use the three standards of quality identified by House in his 1980 book, Evaluating with Validity --

Truth, Beauty, and Justice. Some questions that come from the general theme and the three standards include:

 

• How is evaluation quality conceptualized and operationalized?
• How do we ensure evaluation quality in our practice?
• How do our evaluations embrace and inform truth? beauty? justice?
• How do we balance dimensions of evaluation quality when they seem in opposition to one another?
• What are the forms and uses of metaevaluation?

In addition, we can continue conversations started at the 2008 and 2009 conferences around the themes of evaluation policy and the role of context, with such questions as:

• How do evaluation policies support or undermine evaluation quality?
• What is the role of context in evaluation quality?

   

Evaluation quality can be looked at from philosophical, political, aesthetic, theoretical, practical, and other perspectives. In November 2010, we will have opportunities to engage in conversation about what it is and what it means for our practice, learn new ways of thinking about the systematic assessment of our work, and increase our ability to conduct evaluations of the highest quality.

 

I invite you to submit a proposal focusing on Evaluation Quality, or any aspect of evaluation as we explore the breadth and depth of the field. You can find the proposal submission forms, and learn more about the event right here on the Evaluation 2010 website.

The conference location in the historically and culturally rich city of San Antonio is an additional incentive to plan to attend. Last year, the Asian Art Wing of the San Antonio Museum of Art was honored for its outstanding architectural design, the city was recognized by the National League of Cities’ Institute for Youth, Education, and Families for its innovative social programs, and the local Buckhorn Tavern’s Bobby Olguin beat nationally renowned chef Bobby Flay in a ‘best green chili cheeseburger’ cookoff. 2009 will be a hard act to follow, but we’re up for the challenge. Please join me in San Antonio for lively discussion, disputation, learning, and professional support!

Leslie Cooksy

 

AEA 2010 President