Theories Bridging Ethnography and Evaluation

Melissa Rae Goodnight is Assistant Professor in Educational Psychology and Global Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), USA. Additionally, she is a faculty affiliate of the Center for Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment (CREA), based at UIUC.Rodney Hopson is currently Senior Associate Dean and Professor, School of Education, American University. Most recently, he served as Professor of Evaluation in the Department of Educational Psychology, College of Education, with appointments in the Educational Policy and Organizational Leadership and the Center of African Studies, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA.

The fusion of ethnography and evaluation addresses a longstanding need to integrate issues of culture in a systematic way into evaluation theory and practice. This fusion strengthens evaluators’ potential to contribute to the transformation of education programs, systems and policies towards increased justice and cultural responsiveness. The focus on intersectionality, international, and national understandings of ethnography’s contribution to a more culturally responsive approach to evaluation provides the reader with an expansive opportunity to uncover oppressive cultural beliefs and norms, challenge asymmetric power structures, and address issues of discrimination and injustice in pursuit of positive changes in schools. The contributing authors share their personal and professional experiences in ways that make the cost of failure to transform educational systems more tangible and heart-rending.

• Chapter 1. Ethnography and Evaluation Possibilities: Fostering Transformative, Intersectional, and Comparative Work; Melissa Rae Goodnight Chapter 2. Occupying the “Space Between” Ethnography, Evaluation, and Positionality; Tatiana E. Bustos and Yamanda Wright Chapter 3. Not Ethnograph-ish: Illuminating Theories of Culture in Evaluation with a Critical Ethnographic Onto-Epistemology; Cory A. Buckband Chapter 4. Critical Ethnography to Evaluate the Advancement of Anti-racist Pedagogy; William N. Thomas IV and Amaarah DeCuir Chapter 5. Reciprocity in Research and Evaluation: Conceptualizing Utang Na Loob, Pakikipagkapwa, and Alalay as Filipina American Educational Researchers; Christine Abagat Liboon, Rose Ann E. Gutierrez, and Ariana Guillermo Dimagiba Chapter 6. Ethnographic Inquiry in Program Evaluation: Ensuring Authenticity and Cultural Responsiveness; Paula Caffer, Sharon Brisolara, Arthur E. Hernández, and Anna Jefferson Chapter 7. Sankofa Reflections on Bridging Ethnography and Evaluation Then and Now; Rodney Hopson