The Harvard Family Research Project separated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education to become the Global Family Research Project as of January 1, 2017. It is no longer affiliated with Harvard University.
Volume IX, Number 4, Winter 2003/2004
Issue Topic: Reflecting on the Past and Future of Evaluation
From the Director's Desk
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| Heather Weiss |
With this issue, The Evaluation Exchange kicks off its tenth year of publication. In our very first issue, I said that the success of this resource would depend on your willingness to be an active participant. A decade later, I want to thank you for heeding that call in ways that have exceeded our expectations. Thank you to the hundreds of authors who have generously shared their experiences and thoughts, to the thousands of subscribers who have read and applied the content, and to the generous funders that have supported the production and free distribution of The Evaluation Exchange. Finally, I want to thank my staff for remaining committed to The Evaluation Exchange and to growing its value.
Rarely does a nonprofit publish a periodical that sustains beyond its inaugural issues. We are extremely proud that The Evaluation Exchange has evolved into a nationally known resource, with a growing and diverse audience of more than 13,000 evaluators, practitioners, policymakers, and funders.
While we want to celebrate this tenth-year milestone, we know that we are operating in a dynamic environment with ever-changing demands and appetites for new ideas presented in new ways. We can’t stop to celebrate too long—we need to be reflecting constantly on our field and practice so we can continuously improve our work.
Accordingly, we have dedicated this issue to sharing some of the lessons that will inform our agenda in the future. We begin in our Theory & Practice section with a series of reflections by renowned experts on what the past decade has meant for evaluation. These essays point to areas where we have not come far enough, identify practices we may need to rethink and, in addressing the importance of learning from our progress and success, introduce a theme that emerges several times in this issue.
Several articles offer additional thoughts about recent developments. Michael Scriven offers his perspective on the status of the evaluation profession and discipline. Other articles present nominations for the “best of the worst” evaluation practices, emerging links between program evaluation and organization development, and some surprising findings about changes in university-based evaluation training.
Building on these and our own reflections, this issue also introduces topics that future issues will address in more depth. While our basic format and approach will remain the same, we have included articles that herald our commitment to covering themes we think require more attention in the evaluation arena—diversity, international evaluation, technology, and evaluation of the arts. Upcoming issues will feature and spur dialogue about these topics and others, including program theory, mixed methods, democratic approaches to evaluation, advocacy and activism, accountability, and systems change, which was the topic of our first issue 10 years ago and remains a significant evaluation challenge today.
Like the evaluation field itself, much has changed about The Evaluation Exchange. But our success still depends on the participation of our readers. If you have ideas about other topics you would like to see featured, please don’t hesitate to share them with us. We continue to welcome your feedback and contributions.
Heather B. Weiss, Ed.D.
Founder & Director
Harvard Family Research Project