Participatory Program Evaluation: Centering Critical Perspectives in Developing Socially Just and Collaborative Solutions

Authors

Keywords:

community engagement, decolonizing, research methods

Abstract

MSW students take research and program evaluation courses designed to develop their research-informed practice and practice-informed research skills. Textbooks center Euro-western ways of knowing, which can be supplemented by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) approaches to research, evaluation, and community-engaged change processes. My article describes and analyzes organizational contexts, course structure, and critical pedagogies that enable authentic justice-centered graduate student co-creation of egalitarian learning communities that seek to name, challenge, and dismantle structures of exclusion, injustice, and marginalization. My insights as an instructor focus on what perspectives are centered and transformative approaches that acknowledge holistic (including affective) engagement in change processes. My pedagogy normalizes feeling unsettled with relational and dynamic collaborations that require students develop the elasticity to accept community partner feedback and revise research methods and practices accordingly, which are essential skills when working with BIPOC communities seeking justice.

Author Biography

Laurie A. Walker, Montana State University

Laurie A. Walker, PhD is Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Native American Studies, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT (laurie.walker@montana.edu).

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Published

2024-02-28

How to Cite

Walker, L. A. (2024). Participatory Program Evaluation: Centering Critical Perspectives in Developing Socially Just and Collaborative Solutions. Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping, 30(1), 109–125. Retrieved from https://reflectionsnarrativesofprofessionalhelping.org/index.php/Reflections/article/view/1971