Presented by the AEA’s Policy Topical Interest Group (TIG)
in collaboration with Washington Evaluators and OPEN

~ Free virtual event. Register through Eventbrite. ~

In 2019, the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policy Act (P.L. 115-435) directed federal agencies to write and implement guidance for program evaluation, also known as evaluation policies. Accordingly, in March 2020, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memorandum outlining program evaluation standards to guide the development of evaluation policies. Federal agencies have been developing such statements in part to suit organizational needs and contexts, and also to satisfy Evidence Act requirements.

During this webinar, you will learn more about:

• The differences between evaluation policies, evaluation plans and learning agendas.
  
• Motivation and intent for drafting an evaluation policy
  
• Emergent research on evaluation policies across two sectors: philanthropic and federal government

About the Speakers

DR. REBECCA KRUSE

Dr. Rebecca Kruse joined the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2020 as the Assistant Director for Evaluation for the Program Analysis and Evaluation Division in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer. Previously, she served as Evaluator for the National Science Foundation, Evaluation Director for the Army Educational Outreach Programs, and as a Principal Investigator or Evaluator for numerous federally-funded education and workforce development grants and contracts. In partnership with the DHS Evaluation Officer, she currently leads the Department’s development of evaluation and evidence infrastructure to implement Evidence Act Title 1. Rebecca is active in the federal evaluation community, as a CFO Act Agency Evaluation Officer Council member, a mentor and periodic presenter for OMB’s Evidence and Evaluation Community events, and as a working group member/co-author of OMB’s issued program evaluation standards and practices. Passionate about use and influence of evaluation, Rebecca brings principles and processes of human centered design, change management, and team process to her evaluation work. She will soon celebrate her first year as a member of AEA’s Evaluation Policy TIG.

DR. LESLIE A. FIERRO 

Dr. Leslie A. Fierro is a Senior Fellow with Claremont Graduate University and owner of Fierro Consulting Inc. Her work includes developing sustainable evaluation capacity in organizations and systems, collaborating with organizations to plan and implement evaluations that provide actionable insights, and fostering learning through traditional and non-traditional approaches on a wide-range of evaluation topics. She has conducted evaluations in a wide variety of settings including the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Her research in the area of evaluation spans topics such as evaluation policy in the federal government, evaluation capacity building in the public sector, evaluative thinking, and evaluation training. Leslie is the Co Editor-In-Chief of New Directions for Evaluation and the co-chair of AEA’s Evaluation Policy TIG.

DR. ALANA KINARSKY 

Dr. Alana Kinarsky is a postdoctoral scholar at UCLA’s School of Education and Information Studies, specializing in social research methodology. Her research focuses on evaluation policies, how evaluation can strengthen nonprofit organizations and foundations, and support for undergraduates with foster care experience. She is currently the co-chair of AEA’s Evaluation Policy Topical Interest Group and the event lead for the Oregon Program Evaluators Network. She also works as an independent evaluator based in Portland, OR.

About the Moderator

DR. ESTHER C. NOLTON

Dr. Esther C. Nolton, Program Officer at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. She specializes in quantitative measurement, survey, and qualitative methodologies, and has also facilitated strategic planning, organizational learning, and evaluation policy processes in the federal government as an AEA Graduate Education Diversity Internship Scholar placed in the Evaluation and Assessment Capacity Section at the National Science Foundation. Nolton is currently the Program Co-Chair for the AEA Evaluation Policy TIG and is the Program Chair for the Washington Evaluators. She has over a decade of experience as a reviewer for conference proposals and in the process of selecting conference sessions not only for AEA, but for several other professional organizations.