CEA will host a featured week in the AEA365 blog in early August. We are looking to feature the exciting and innovative evaluation work of our CEA members. Topics can be related to CEA or your own evaluation work - anything that would be of interest to other evaluators across the nation!

Job Title: Evaluator / Coach

As an Evaluator/ Coach with PIE Org, you will be responsible to help partner organizations achieve their evaluation goals. Includes external evaluation work (i.e., process, formative summative) and evaluation coaching to help organizations build internal evaluation capacity. Most evaluation work will be conducted in the areas of educational and social service programs. All evaluation work will utilize PIE’s research-based system to help partner organizations complete evaluation plans, data analysis, and evaluation reports, as well as make recommendations to client organizations’ senior management to improve their strategies and protocols. It is essential to develop and maintain good rapport with grantees and foundations with whom we partner. Strong communication and interpersonal skills are critical for this role. The ideal candidate must have the ability to work independently, multi-
task, prioritize and expedite job responsibilities to complete work in a timely and high quality manner. Because much of our work is completed on-site in the neighborhoods where partner organizations are located, this position will work remotely a majority of the time. This is a full-time position and includes a substantial compensation and benefits package with health-care, retirement, and a generous vacation policy.

Supervision: The Evaluator / Coach will directly report to the Evaluation Director, who will provide ongoing supervision and support, as needed.

Principal Duties:
• Develop and use logic models to describe complex programs and their outcomes.
• Provide leadership in a team setting, move members forward and build consensus.
• Work with stakeholders to develop a comprehensive strategic evaluation plan that prioritizes
evaluation activities to be completed during regular funding periods.
• Engage stakeholders in an evaluation process based on shared priorities, including meeting facilitation, presentation, conflict resolution, and negotiation skills.
• Ensure that evaluation activities are complementary to program(s) strategic plans and reporting requirements.
• Educate program staff and partners about evaluation concepts and methods.
• Understand the context of a program and how it affects program planning, implementation, outcomes, and the evaluation.
• Conduct formative and summative evaluations.
• Knowledge in the development of evaluation plans and approaches for generating, revising, and prioritizing evaluation questions
• Demonstrated use of various evaluation designs and methods (e.g., quasi-experimental, mixed methods). Ability to select appropriate quantitative or qualitative methodologies to increase use of findings by primary stakeholders.
• Lead program’s staff in developing and testing data collection instruments.
• Identify and assess existing data sources and literature for their potential use in program evaluation.
• Gather data using qualitative and quantitative approaches such as interviews, group processes, participant observation, surveys, electronic data files, or other methods.
• Construct databases, conduct and supervise data entry, and perform data cleaning.
• Knowledge of methods for protecting confidential data.
• Conduct analyses using appropriate analytic tools for quantitative data (e.g., SAS, SPSS) and/or qualitative data (e.g., Nvivo, Atlas.ti, MaxQDA).
• Develop criteria and standards reflective of the values held by key evaluation stakeholders.
• Synthesize information generated through an evaluation to produce findings that are clear and directly aligned to evaluation questions and programmatic outcomes.
• Work with stakeholders to develop feasible recommendations based on evaluation data.
• Prepare and present evaluation results in a manner that increases the likelihood that they will be used and accepted by a diverse group of stakeholders.
• Develop and implement a communications and dissemination plan.

Qualifications: Candidates who apply should have advanced skills in MS Excel and Microsoft Office Suite, advanced statistical and analytical skills, with 5 years of experience developing evaluation plans and measurement systems. A Master’s degree in applied statistics/research methods/social work/public health/education policy is required. Doctoral degrees preferred. Reliable transportation is a must.

Statement on Inclusivity: PIE is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

Anticipated hire date: Summer 2018

To Apply: Please e-mail cover letter, resume, and work sample of a data analysis write up. Please send all documents as one pdf file with your last name as the file name, to admin@pieorg.org.

Webinar has passed, but CEA members only can access the recording. Email connect@evalchicago.org for the link.

Speaker: Michael Quinn Patton, Ph.D. 
Webinar title: Evaluation Science:How Knowledge is Validated, How the World is Changed, and How Nobel Prizes are Awarded.
Presented by the the School of Social Science, Policy and Evaluation at Claremont Graduate University.

In this “post-truth” era, conceptualizing evaluation as science and practitioners as evaluation scientists serves both science and evaluation. Both are evidence-based processes; when the credibility of scientific evidence is attacked, the credibility of evaluation evidence is threatened as well. Michael Quinn Patton, the founder and director of Utilization-Focused Evaluation, will present the case for treating evaluation as science and how that treatment complements but is different from treating evaluation as a profession/discipline.

For more information, contact Linda Pillow, linda.pillow@cgu.edu, 
909-607-1410. Since 2002, the John Stauffer Charitable Trust has sponsored a series of informative talks on current research in applied psychology for DBOS students, faculty, and the general community.

The Evaluators' Institute (#TEI) welcomes CEA members to participate in its April/May 2018 Chicago Program. Contact tei@cgu.edu to access the special CEA discount!

(April 30 – May 5, 2018)

The Evaluators’ Institute (TEI) offers top-tier training in evaluation for beginning, mid-career, and advanced evaluation professionals. Taught by leaders in the field, TEI courses offer technical rigor in evaluation methods and practice through participant-centered, adult-learning approaches.

For participants who are interested in charting a full course of study, TEI offers a number of professional certifications.

You can find course descriptions and information on how to register on the TEI website here: https://tei.cgu.edu/

Don’t miss this great opportunity for CEA members to build professional skills alongside great faculty and fellow participants. Act now before the classes fill up!

The TEI team is standing at tei@cgu.edu to answer any questions.