Building a New Generation of Culturally Responsive Evaluators Through Aea's Graduate Education Diversity Internship Program

• Factors that contributed to the design and organization of the program
• Critical components and aspects of the program that guide its implementation, characterized by the leadership training, mentorship and professional socialization, and the practical project placements
• Lessons learned, which reveal the opportunities and challenges of expanding pipelines and pathways of diversity and social justice through professional associations.

Rodney Hopson is a professor in the College of Education and Human Development and a senior research fellow of the Center of Education Policy and Evaluation at George Mason University. He served as founding director of the GEDI program from 2004 to 2009.

EDITORS' NOTES 1
Prisca M. Collins, Rodney Hopson

1. The Development of a Diversity Initiative: Framework for the Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) Program 9
Hazel Symonette, Donna M. Mertens, Rodney Hopson
The purpose of this chapter is to provide a historical framing for the development of the American Evaluation Association’s (AEA's) Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) program as an outgrowth of the AEA's Building Diversity Initiative (BDI). This chapter provides historical documentation of the AEA's BDI and the origins of the GEDI program and discusses how this represents an important part of AEA's history.

2. Envisioning an Evaluation Curriculum to Develop Culturally Responsive Evaluators and Support Social Justice 23
Prisca M. Collins, Karen E. Kirkhart, Tanya Brown
This chapter describes the theoretical framework underlying the Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) program curriculum and discusses how the program evolved over time. It describes the various components of the program, plus factors that influenced curriculum content and format. The chapter also discusses four levels of intended program outcomes: individual, organizational, community, and professional.

3. Championing Culturally Responsive Leadership for Evaluation Practice 37
Lisa Aponte-Soto, Deborah S. Ling Grant, Frances Carter-Johnson, Soria E. Colomer, Johnavae E. Campbell, Karen G. Anderson
A case study of the first six GEDI cohorts was conducted to evaluate the program’s impact on Culturally Responsive Evaluation (CRE) leadership development. This chapter validates how GEDI transformative leadership strategies can be applied by any profession to champion CRE practitioners and promote a society that values social justice, equity, and democratic change.

4. Mentorship and the Professional Development of Culturally Responsive Evaluators in the American Evaluation Association's Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) Program 49
Ricardo L. G´omez, Asma Ali, Wanda Casillas
In this study, we used Q methodology to investigate perspectives on mentorship among alumni of the GEDI program. We asked participants to think retrospectively and give their opinion on the most important characteristics a GEDI mentor should have, based on what they would have liked or needed when they participated in the GEDI program.

5. Shaping a New Generation of Culturally Responsive Evaluators: Program Director Perspectives on the Role of the Internship Experience 67
Michelle L. Bryan, Rita O'Sullivan
In this chapter, we reflect on the role of the internship experience (also known as the practical evaluation project placement) within the overall design and function of the GEDI program, as well as its relationship to program goals and outcomes. We argue that explicit consideration of the program's cultural context is critical for understanding the impact of the internship experience on the program’s overall quality and effectiveness.

6. Socializing Emerging Evaluators: The Use of Mentoring to Develop Evaluation Competence 83
Tamara Bertrand Jones
In this chapter, data from the Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) participants are used to describe how the GEDI program influences the socialization of diverse emerging scholars, specifically using mentoring relationships to facilitate the development of evaluation competence. Survey data exploring the interns’ formal and informal mentoring relationships suggest that informal mentoring relationships were more effective and yield more support for psychosocial development and exposure to evaluation-related knowledge and competence in comparison with formal mentoring relationships.

7. Embedding the Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) Program Within a Larger System 97
Kien Lee, Brandi Gilbert
This chapter represents the perspective of an organization that supports the Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) program and employs evaluators, including several graduates of the program. It is a perspective about what would make an ideal employer–employee match for GEDI program graduates, including the attributes of the employer and the competencies of the program graduate. The authors use this perspective to demonstrate the changes that need to occur across all the organizations that have a role in supporting the GEDI program in order to live up to the mission of the program.

8. How Will We Know It When We See It? A Critical Friend Perspective of the Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) Program and Its Legacy in Evaluation 109
Stafford Hood
As a critical friend of the GEDI program, I provide three personal reference points to organize observations and reflections during my role as mentor and instructor for the program. As a scholar concerned with promoting Culturally Responsive Evaluation (CRE), I reflect on the founding and development of the program alongside some of the key ideas that shaped CRE with the hopeful assumptions that the GEDI alumni will carry the CRE torch that lights the path for those who will follow in this common struggle.

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