Really New Directions in Evaluation: Young Evaluators' Perspectives

Book excerpt: From the Editor This issue of New Directions for Evaluation (NDE) marks a milestone?the 25th anniversary of the American Evaluation Association (AEA). NDE is an official publication of AEA and has been a crucial means for the Association to foster and promote the professionalization of evaluation through thematic discussions of theory and practice in evaluation. NDE was first published in 1978 under the name New Directions for Program Evaluation, although the title became New Directions for Evaluation in 1995 in acknowledgment of the broader scope of evaluation. The current issue of NDE, on the 25th anniversary of AEA, looks not back but ahead. Because NDE is a thematic and guest-edited journal it tends to favor more mature, self-assured voices in evaluation. The journal format does not lend itself easily to showcasing the voices of novice evaluators, those just entering the field and who will be the next generation of evaluation practitioners and theoreticians. As such, NDE has chosen on this anniversary to highlight those voices. Included are a number of chapters that build on what evaluation has already learned from other disciplines by introducing us to new possibilities. We are also challenged in the chapters to think about techniques or methods we use, both at a practical and conceptual level. Some chapters raise questions about who evaluators are, how they interact with others, and the roles they assume in their practice. Some young evaluators are confronting, in various ways, conundrums in thinking about and doing evaluation within organizations, either from an external or internal perspective. And issues in using technology in evaluation or challenges in evaluating technology are considered.