Leaders in Equitable Evaluation and Diversity

Vision and Mission

Lead­ers in Equi­table Eval­u­a­tion and Diver­si­ty (LEEAD) is based on the Casey Foun­da­tion’s belief that increas­ing diver­si­ty in the field of research and eval­u­a­tion improves the knowl­edge base and makes for bet­ter sci­ence and social inno­va­tion. The effort seeks to increase the field­’s diver­si­ty by devel­op­ing pipelines of lead­ers from com­mu­ni­ties that are under­rep­re­sent­ed and who are com­mit­ted to cul­tur­al­ly respon­sive and equi­table eval­u­a­tion. LEEAD sup­ports tal­ent­ed researchers in their pur­suits of careers in eval­u­a­tion that will influ­ence the life out­comes of chil­dren, fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties. LEEAD is a pro­gram of the Foun­da­tion’s Expand­ing the Bench® ini­tia­tive, which focus­es on race and eth­nic­i­ty equi­ty and inclusion.

Core Val­ues

• Equi­ty: We seek to cre­ate a fair and just soci­ety through schol­ars who will con­duct cul­tur­al­ly respon­sive eval­u­a­tions that raise the voic­es of under­served communities.
• Diver­si­ty: We val­ue diverse per­spec­tives, expe­ri­ences and back­grounds to strength­en the knowl­edge base.
• Lead­er­ship: We strive to devel­op lead­ers who will advance inclu­sion and influ­ence oth­ers to join in equi­table research and evaluation.
• Excel­lence: We believe that increased diver­si­ty and equi­table eval­u­a­tion will raise the stan­dard of excel­lence in prac­tice and pol­i­cy that will ben­e­fit all chil­dren and families.

About the Program

LEEAD con­sists of three essen­tial com­po­nents: 1) A semes­ter of online eval­u­a­tion course­work; 2) Ongo­ing men­tor­ship from estab­lished experts in eval­u­a­tion; and 3) A remote eval­u­a­tion res­i­den­cy place­ment at a research orga­ni­za­tion, think tank, foun­da­tion or pri­vate firm. Addi­tion­al­ly, schol­ars will par­tic­i­pate in two in-per­son gath­er­ings of the LEEAD Network.

• Course­work: LEEAD uses an inten­sive, fast-track cur­ricu­lum that com­bines online eval­u­a­tion course mod­ules and pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment course elec­tives. Informed by an assess­ment of the schol­ars’ com­pe­ten­cies and pro­fes­sion­al inter­ests, schol­ars will enroll in select cred­it-bear­ing course mod­ules admin­is­tered by the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin-Stout Eval­u­a­tion Cer­tifi­cate online pro­gram. The schol­ars will engage in self-direct­ed, self-paced study. A min­i­mum of 10 hours a week is esti­mat­ed to com­plete the 24-top­ic mod­ule over the fall semes­ter. In addi­tion to the online mod­ules, schol­ars will par­tic­i­pate in a series of pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment ses­sions and elec­tives on spe­cial­ized eval­u­a­tion skills. Pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment ses­sions will include top­ics relat­ed to net­work build­ing, secur­ing and nego­ti­at­ing con­tracts, and man­ag­ing chal­lenges around race and eth­nic­i­ty equi­ty and inclu­sion in the work­place. Spe­cial­ized elec­tives top­ics offered last year includ­ed NVi­vo and Imple­men­ta­tion Sci­ence. Top­ics are informed by the needs of the cohorts and our part­nered host sites.
• Men­tor­ship: Men­tor­ing is an essen­tial com­po­nent and will occur through­out and beyond the pro­gram cycle. Men­tor­ing efforts will focus on sup­port­ing schol­ars in attain­ing an eval­u­a­tion sub­con­tract for their remote res­i­den­cy place­ment. Men­tors will work with schol­ars to hone their pro­pos­als in response to open projects from part­ner­ing sites such as eval­u­a­tion firms, non­prof­its and oth­er orga­ni­za­tions requir­ing eval­u­a­tion ser­vices. Once an eval­u­a­tion project is obtained, men­tors will then focus their efforts on coach­ing the schol­ar through a suc­cess­ful remote res­i­den­cy experience.
• Remote Res­i­den­cy: The res­i­den­cy is a cul­mi­nat­ing project where schol­ars will apply their devel­oped eval­u­a­tion com­pe­ten­cies at a part­ner host site and add spe­cial­ized expe­ri­ence in eval­u­a­tion to their cur­ricu­lum vitae. Schol­ars will be expect­ed to exe­cute dis­crete eval­u­a­tion projects of about 40 to 60 hours of work accom­plished remote­ly over the dura­tion of a six- to nine-month con­tract peri­od. Schol­ars will be con­sid­ered sub­con­trac­tors and will be paid as con­sul­tants at a com­pet­i­tive hourly rate. The host site and schol­ar can agree to extend the con­tract for a longer term. Since the res­i­den­cy will involve dis­crete projects, they can be com­plet­ed by the schol­ar remote­ly and do not require relo­ca­tion. Schol­ars will be expect­ed to include a cul­tur­al­ly respon­sive eval­u­a­tive lens to their work. Practicum host sites include large, rep­utable eval­u­a­tion orga­ni­za­tions such as Child Trends, Amer­i­can Insti­tutes for Research, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mem­phis, Hard­er & Com­pa­ny, Math­e­mat­i­ca Pol­i­cy Research, ORS Impact, RAND Cor­po­ra­tion and Urban Institute.

For more infor­ma­tion, con­tact San­dra Sil­va of Change Matrix, LLC, the new man­ag­ing part­ner of the Advanc­ing Col­lab­o­ra­tive Eval­u­a­tion Net­work and LEEAD.