Write a 100 word response
Due 6/26/2025
Poe
Based on Fitzpatrick, Sanders, Worthen, and Wingate (2023), professional evaluators engage in a variety of roles and activities, including conducting needs assessments, designing logic models, and promoting critical reflection to inform and strengthen the program design. They help organizations learn, grow, and address vulnerabilities, providing technical expertise and internal evaluation. Evaluators advocate for change, bring attention to any discrimination, and ensure ethical resource utilization. Their roles vary with context, from serving as teachers to acting as facilitators or outside experts, depending on the evaluation’s goals, such as to improve a programs or contributing to policy discussions.
Evaluators engage in activities such as negotiating with stakeholders, managing contracts and budgets, identifying underrepresented groups, analyzing data, communicating with stakeholders, writing reports, and engaging with the media. Professional evaluators are educated and trained in evaluation, often attending conferences and literature. They can be either internal members or external consultants, with their status not affecting the evaluation’s rigor or their professional commitments.
In my work setting, I plan to use professional evaluation skills by first figuring out what the community or organization really needs. This way, we can make sure our programs match those needs. I’ll create logic models, llike charts that show what resources we have, what activities we’ll do, and what results we hope to achieve. These models will help us communicate clearly with others involved and plan our strategies better. I also want to help the team learn and grow by thinking about what we can do better. This will help us fix any weak spots ahead of time and make sure we use our resources responsibly and ethically.