Evaluation in Today’s World

Book excerpt: Recipient of a 2021 Most Promising New Textbook Award from the Textbook & Academic Authors Association (TAA) Evaluation in Today’s World: Respecting Diversity, Improving Quality, and Promoting Usability is a timely and comprehensive textbook that guides students, practitioners, and users of evaluations in understanding evaluation purposes, theories, methodologies, and challenges within today’s sociocultural and political context. Veronica G. Thomas and Patricia B. Campbell include discussions of evaluation history, frameworks, models, types, planning, and methods, through a social justice, diversity, and inclusive lens. The authors focus on ethics in diverse cultural contexts, help readers understand how social problems and programs get politicized and, sometimes, framed through a racialized lens, show how to engage stakeholders in the evaluation process, and communicate results in culturally appropriate ways. Included with this title: The password-protected Instructor Resource Site (formally known as SAGE Edge) offers access to all text-specific resources, including a test bank and editable, chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides.