Summary

Culturally responsive evaluation (CRE) is an emerging field of study in evaluation that supports the standards issued by the American Evaluation Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Association of School Psychologists in relation to culture, assessment, and evaluation. Making culture and issues of social justice relevant to communities and people of color adds to the validity of the evaluation methods as well as the results.

African Americans are a subculture of the U.S. population in which issues of diversity, poverty, racism, and discrimination have created a unique cultural identity and worldview. CRE serves as a course of action to take all relevant factors for this population into consideration when conducting evaluations with this group. The African American Culturally Responsive Evaluation System for Academic Settings (ACESAS) is a logic model designed to provide a visual overview of the steps performed when conducing culturally responsive evaluations in predominantly African American settings. It is our hope that the ACESAS, upon continued use and discussion, will further come to visually represent those key factors that distinguish it from other evaluation models, in order to serve as a guide and frame of reference for culturally responsive evaluators and stakeholder groups.