Join Western Michigan University at the 2025 AEA Conference!

The Relationship Between Logic Models and Program Implementation Fidelity

Time: 10:25 AM - 10:30 AM CST

Presenter: Joshua Amponsah

This presentation explores the relationship between logic models and program implementation fidelity, emphasizing how structured planning tools can support consistent, effective program delivery. Through case studies and best practices, we illustrate the importance of aligning activities with intended outcomes while addressing challenges such as adaptation, staff turnover, and resource constraints. By promoting transparent planning, shared accountability, and community-responsive implementation, logic models offer a framework for engaging stakeholders and sustaining high-fidelity practices. This aligns with the AEA 2025 theme of Engaging Community and sharing Leadership by positioning logic models as tools for collaborative learning, co-ownership, and evidence-informed decision-making.

A Walk Through the Garden of Evaluation Approaches: Uses for Teaching, Capacity Building, and Practice

Time: 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM CST

Presenters: Daniela Schroeter, Lyssa Becho, Bianca Montrosse-Moorhead

Join us for a vibrant and immersive exploration of the Garden of Evaluation Approaches, where we will stroll through the lush landscapes of traditional and contemporary evaluation theories. Presenters will delve into how practitioners, students, and evaluation commissioners alike can use the Garden to enhance the responsiveness and appropriateness of their evaluations. Akin to selecting the right plants for a garden landscape, this framework can help you choose one or more evaluation approaches for a particular context. This demonstration will showcase various examples of how we and others have used the Garden to inform evaluation planning, teaching, and professional development. Join us and explore how the Garden can become indispensable in crafting nuanced, impactful evaluations. Whether new to the field or seeking to expand your imagination, this demonstration will offer valuable perspectives to enrich your evaluative thinking.

Engaging Communities through the Arts: Lessons from a Three-Year Evaluation of the Gilmore Piano Program

Time: 3:05 PM - 3:10 PM CST

Presenters: Ana L. Vasquez-Quino, and Gary Miron

This paper presents findings and insights from a three-year formative and summative evaluation of the Gilmore Piano Community Program, a community-based music education initiative focused on access, expression, and inclusion through the arts. The evaluation used mixed methods including interviews, observations, surveys, and document review to assess the program’s impact on students, families, teaching artists, and community partners. Key findings highlight how sustained engagement, culturally responsive instruction, and local partnerships contributed to both artistic development and broader community connectedness. This session will explore lessons learned about evaluating arts-based programs in ways that center stakeholder voice, promote youth engagement, and align evaluation practices with community values. Attendees will gain insights into the role of participatory methods and arts-integrated evaluation strategies in long-term, relationship-centered programming. This session is especially relevant for evaluators working with arts, education, or community-based programs.

Adaptive Scenario Simulation (AdSS) Model for Counterfactual Estimation

Time: 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM CST

Presenters: John F. Akwetey

This study explores the integration of counterfactual thinking and Systematic Inventive Thinking (SIT) in program evaluation through the development of the Adaptive Scenario Simulation (AdSS) model. Counterfactual reasoning plays a critical role in causal inference by estimating alternative outcomes, yet traditional methods face limitations in addressing selection bias and unobservable conditions. By incorporating SIT principles—such as Subtraction, Division, and Attribute Dependency—this study introduces a structured approach to counterfactual estimation that enhances validity and methodological rigor. Utilizing a qualitative research design, including semi-structured interviews and scenario-based simulations, the study seeks to gather insights from evaluation experts to assess the model’s applicability. Findings suggest that the AdSS model improves counterfactual estimation by systematically generating plausible alternative scenarios, fostering more reliable causal inferences. This research contributes to advancing evaluation methodologies by offering an innovative framework that enhances decision-making, program design, and policy development across various domains, including education, health, economic, and international development.

Enhancing Crisis Preparedness and Resilience Through Collaborative Evaluation: An Organizational Involvement Approach

Time: 3:45 PM - 4:45 PM CST

Presenters: John F. Akwetey, Michelle Rincones-Rodriguez, and Liliana Rodriguez-Campos

Building resilience in times of crisis requires more than predefined protocols. Instead, it demands a dynamic, inclusive, and continuously evolving approach. This poster presents a framework that integrates collaborative evaluation into crisis preparedness, emphasizing active involvement across all levels of an organization. Combining the Model for Collaborative Evaluations (MCE) with established crisis management frameworks enhances adaptability, ensures continuous feedback, and strengthens decision-making processes. Unlike traditional top-down assessments, this method fosters collective responsibility, allowing organizations to refine their preparedness strategies in real-time. Through case studies and practical applications, this poster highlights how collaborative evaluation improves organizational learning, crisis response effectiveness, and long-term resilience. Attendees will gain actionable insights into fostering a participatory evaluation culture, ensuring preparedness strategies remain relevant, effective, and responsive to emerging challenges. This approach positions evaluation as an essential and ongoing process for organizational resilience and success.

Strategizing to Do More With Less in an Increasingly Turbulent Environment: Expanding the Toolkit for Program Evaluators and Program Managers/Decision-Makers

Time: 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM CST

Presenters: Nadini Persaud, and Ruqayyah Ab-Obaid

Our world is becoming an increasingly turbulent environment thus creating an even greater demand for human services. Simultaneously, programs everywhere are experiencing severe budget cuts/constraints. Additionally, many federal agencies in the USA (e.g., USAID) which provide local/international funding are being severed in 2025 which will negatively affect numerous social programs throughout the world. This may also affect the breadline for many evaluators. Today, funding crises everywhere necessitate that limited financial resources be stretched to do the same or more with less. Programs everywhere are struggling to survive. This year’s conference theme “Engaging Community, Sharing Leadership” is focused on enabling communities to grow, learn and innovate to improve outcomes. This presentation therefore aims to empower our communities of both program evaluators, as well as program managers/decision-makers, with tools, knowledge, and competencies that can help them to survive in an environment plagued with many wicked problems and exacerbated by financial constraints.