Dr. Kathy Newcomer was Washington Evaluators President from 1995 to 1997. She is currently serving as the President of the American Evaluation Association. This message is reprinted from the EVALTALK Discussion List.

I am absolutely delighted with the respect given evaluation in the final report of the Commission on Evidence-Based Policy and want to thank our AEA Evaluation Policy Task Force (EPTF) for their input into the deliberations and report. Under George Grob's leadership with Cheryl Oros' support, our EPTF ensured AEA provided useful and relevant input. AEA was covering the Commission closely, as strong evaluation policy is so very critical – now more than ever.

Special recognition goes to AEA's EPTF member and Washington Evaluators' President Nick Hart who served as the Policy Director of the Commission and who has a very good understanding of the field of evaluation which is reflected in the final report. The emphasis placed upon the importance of an evidence-building community, and the need for leadership and strengthened evidence-building capacity in the federal government are especially significant for us all.

On September 21st AEA and Washington Evaluators will be hosting an event to discuss the implications for evaluation practice of the Commission’s recommendations, and we have invited many other professional associations with whom we have partnered during the Commission’s deliberations to join us in our session. This link provides information on the location and timing of the event: http://washingtonevaluators.org/event-2642961

In addition, a presidential strand session at our annual conference will be devoted to the Commission’s findings and recommendations with the Commission’s chair and co-chair speaking, and this session will be live-streamed (pro bono) for anyone who will not be in attendance at the conference.

I am extremely proud of AEA’s role in ensuring the great attention placed on evaluation by the Commission!

And relatedly, our AEA Competencies Task Force has made great strides. The draft competencies they had drafted (on AEA’s website) provide a sound basis for professionalization of our profession. The Task Force has taken an extremely deliberative and inclusive approach to validate the competencies, which will be culminating with a survey of our members very soon. I take great pride in the comprehensive and careful approach to professionalization our Competencies Task Force has taken under the wise leadership of Jean King! Thank you!

Both AEA’s Evaluation Policy Task Force and Competencies Task Force are comprised of many AEA members who work strategically and consistently on behalf our members to support our profession!

Warmest regards,

Kathy Newcomer, AEA 2017 President