ACET, Inc. Blog

ACET is excited to announce that evaluator Dan Regnier has been accepted to present at the 2013 ADARA conference to be held May 29 – June 1, 2013 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, entitled “Blazing New Trails.” ADARA allows those who work with deaf or hard of hearing individuals to work together to exchange ideas, suggestions, and critiques about important issues in the field. Dan’s presentation will be joining over 50 other sessions for this conference.

On Thursday, May 30, Dan will be a part of a presentation entitled “What do we know and how do we know it…Improving service delivery for individuals who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing.” This presentation will explore national surveys on the demographics of interpreter practitioners, demand for interpreting services by setting, and Deaf consumers’ needs and interpreter work choices. In addition, using these national surveys as examples, this presentation will explore the principles of quality surveys (item design, response option design, and formatting strategies) and the importance of survey field testing.

We are very proud of Dan’s acceptance to the 2013 ADARA conference! If you will be attending the ADARA conference this year, we invite you to attend Dan’s session.

ACET Staff

You may not be aware that February is National Parent Leadership Month across the United States. Parent Leadership occurs when parents (including foster parents, grandparents, kinship care providers, and anyone who serves in a parental role) take active responsibility for the betterment of their families and communities. This leadership might manifest itself in service on a board of directors, as a PTA member, when speaking to school administrators or government, or when active on a community task force. Parent Leaders can be volunteers, role models, and mentors, too. Parent Leadership Month was established in 2004 to raise awareness of and recognize the crucial roles parents play in their communities, their families, and their children.

In Minnesota, the organization Prevent Child Abuse Minnesota will be observing National Parent Leadership Month with an event at the Minnesota State Capitol on February 27th, 2013. This event is intended to celebrate and to honor the efforts of parents and professionals who strengthen families and prevent child abuse and neglect. Last year, more than 30 parents were honored at this event.

ACET is grateful for all of the parents that we interact with throughout the evaluation process and wish to support them in their efforts to strengthen schools, improve their health, and nurture their families. You can read more about Parent Leadership at The Parent Leadership Network.

ACET Staff

(with apologies to Clement Clarke Moore)

‘Twas the day before the meeting

And all through the office

Not a voice was stirring;

Not even the boss’.

Reports were being crafted

By evaluators with care

In hopes that key stakeholders

Would be made aware.

When up from the phone there rose such a clatter

Stella picked it right up to see what was the matter

And her eyes lit up at what she did hear:

“The clients are in town! And they’re coming straight here!”

More rapid than eagles we flew into action

Each with their instructions, dedication, and passion:

“On Joseph, on Kirsten, Elizabeth, and Dan!

All’s nearly ready – we’ll stick to the plan!

We worked with great fury to complete every task

Memos, agendas, and questions to ask

Surveys to take and focus group scripts

Mary was lighthearted: “’Tis the season,” she quipped.

Thus all became ready at the foreordained hour

Mixed-method displays of evaluation power

Then the clients arrived, and were pleased and astonished

But Stella arose and was moved to admonish:

“We are client-focused! It’s our cause and our mission!

We are flexible and sensitive to each condition!

We are nimble and responsive, so never you fear!

If you need to call on us, we’ll always be here!”

So our story’s been told,

With one thing to say yet –

Happy holidays to all

From all at ACET.

Mary

When ACET staff met to debrief about the recent AEA Conference in Minneapolis, they had lots of interesting and useful information that they gleaned from days of attending presentations and discussions to share. Here are some comments.

Kirsten: I gravitated towards presentations on data visualization and reporting and sessions in which a skill or technique was demonstrated. In one of the sessions, Simon Geletta (Des Moines University) showed how to build information dashboards. The software was surprisingly easy to use, primarily because it is based on a knowledge and understanding of Excel. Also, if you ever have a chance to watch an Ignite presentation, you may want to do it. Ignite speakers have 5 minutes to talk and 20 presentation slides. The catch? The slides automatically forward every 15 seconds, whether or not the speaker is ready. The result is often a polished, focused summary of the presenter’s work or position. They were inspiring to watch!

Stella: I went to a presentation about college access programs that gave me lots to think about, like the different rubrics used to measure engineering programs. I also went to a session focused on environmental impact that expanded my horizons on what indicators to include for future opportunities. I was also impressed by the work of the University of Minnesota Extension’s cohort model for building evaluation capacity.

Joseph: One presentation I thought was particularly interesting was about evaluation in a for-profit, corporate environment. It ended up being more different [from nonprofit evaluation] than I could have previously imagined. The focus is more on process over outcome, with the understanding that process will lead to outcomes (new business, repeat business, etc.). I did learn some good takeaway strategies that furthered my process evaluation knowledge and skills that will be useful for any sector.

Dan: I found a couple of presentations particularly interesting. One was about using email and postal surveys (or survey invitations) together to maximize response rates, and it went through the different combinations [the presenter] used to deliver the survey (or invite people to complete the survey). Another session I attended was about the analysis of quantitative data with different software packages, and there were some that I knew of, but others I didn’t. I found the functionality of each different software package to be of interest.

ACET Staff

Yesterday, ACET held what must be the first ever Halloween evaluator costume contest anywhere. Costumes were judged by a combination of internal staff and staff from neighboring companies. The grand prize was revealed to be $50. Keep reading to discover who won!

Stella’s costume was a comment on the sometimes contentious politics of data visualization. Though she wasn’t actually entered into the judging for the prize, she put a lot of effort into her costume anyway.

Dan’s costume was a traditional representation of an evaluator, complete with degrees, reference materials, and a copy of SPSS! More than one office member was taken aback by his look.

Mary’s costume was a take on how she thinks evaluators should dress and focused on utility, fun colors, and appearing “helpful” and “unthreatening”. She claims she was inspired by Japanese librarians.

Last but not least, Joseph’s costume brought the evaluator firmly into the realm of the superhero. Wearing a suit for his interactions with clients, he reveals the mean/average symbol on his chest when it’s time to crunch numbers. Joseph was the winner of the costume contest and received 100% of the votes!

We had a great time all in all and we hope that you had a fun and safe Halloween. If you were to dress as an evaluator for Halloween, what would you wear?

ACET Staff

This year for Halloween, ACET is having a costume contest! But not just any costume contest – the mission of ACET staff is to envision and create the ideal costume of an evaluator. What will we come up with? Stay tuned for when we post pictures and the identity of our winner later on in the week!

In the mean time, let us know in the comments what you think the official evaluator’s costume ought to be!

ACET Staff

Are you headed to AEA 2012? A number of related deadlines are fast approaching for the event!

After September 20, registration fees will increase ahead of the American Evaluation Association’s Annual Conference. This year’s AEA conference is being held in Minneapolis from October 24nd through the 27^th at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Professional development workshops will be held in the nearby Minneapolis Hilton from the 22nd  to the 24th.  AEA’s website also reports that many officially designated hotels are sold out for most nights, with others reporting limited availability. If you are planning to attend, now is a good time to solidify your plans.

If you are presenting at AEA, as two of ACET’s own evaluators are, we hope that your preparations are coming along smoothly. The guidelines for presenters advise, among other things, that you make any requests for audio-visual devices beyond a PC, projector, and screen at least four weeks in advance of your event, which at minimum would be the last week of September. If you wish to advertise in the official conference program, the deadline is September 21st.

Are you attending or traveling to attend AEA 2012? What are you looking forward to seeing or doing? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.

ACET Staff

Recently, I had the privilege of attending the national GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) Annual Conference in Washington D.C. organized by the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (NCCEP). GEAR UP grantees from all over the United States and U.S. territories attended the event. It was inspiring to be in the presence of so many people passionate about bringing underrepresented students into the realm of higher education. I learned more about the GEAR UP evaluation and some skills and ideas that will translate well into other areas of my work. As one example, I attended a session that described the importance of attendance patterns and disciplinary records in predicting persistence in postsecondary education (not dropping out of college but persisting through to a degree). The speaker described how attendance and disciplinary patterns might summarize certain values like persistence in reference to postsecondary education.

As this was my first time to our nation’s capital, I did explore the city some before the conference. I walked the mall (from the capital building to the Lincoln Memorial) and was able to go to two museums. I think a week would be needed to thoroughly explore all that there is to offer in D.C.

Have you been on any enjoyable trips lately?

Joseph

Here at ACET, we have the opportunity to work with a variety of education and health-related programs. As an up-and-coming public health professional, I like to keep an eye on professional development opportunities related to public health – luckily, Minnesota is home to many! Though there are several public health conferences and events scheduled throughout the state this fall, I’d like to focus on three upcoming conferences that are open to all who are interested in public health issues.

The first is the 9th Annual Women’s Health Research Conference, being held September 24th at the University of Minnesota McNamara Alumni Center. The Women’s Health Research Conference is hosted by the Deborah E. Powell Center for Women’s Health, and this year’s focus is mature women’s health. The conference features keynote speeches on various physical health issues related to aging; breakout sessions on mental, physical, and sexual health; and a poster session featuring research projects done by public health and medical professionals, researchers, and students.

The next conference I’d like to highlight is the 2012 Community Health Conference, sponsored by the Minnesota Department of Health. The focus of this year’s Community Health Conference, scheduled for October 3rd through the 5th in Brainerd, is “Strengthening Public Health: Linking Past Successes to Future Challenges.” Dr. Edward Ehlinger, the current Minnesota Commissioner of Health, will be a keynote speaker; attendees will also have the opportunity to attend a discussion headed by a panel of former Minnesota commissioners of health. Topics of discussion include health disparities and local data, public health systems research, and the building of community partnerships.

Finally, from October 25th through the 26th, the 2012 Many Faces of Community Health Conference — entitled “Stepping Up to Transform Health Care” this year — will be held in Bloomington. This conference is jointly coordinated by the Minnesota Association of Community Health Centers, the Minnesota Department of Health Diabetes Program and Heart Disease & Stroke Prevention Unit, and the Greater Twin Cities United Way. The 2012 Many Faces of Community Health Conference is intended to help public health professionals and health care providers reduce health disparities and improve care delivered to underserved populations. Attendees will explore challenges and opportunities in reducing health disparities, preventing chronic disease, and improving access to health care.

Registration information for these events can be found on their respective conference websites.

Are you attending any conferences or events for professional development this fall? Have you attended an event that really impaced your career or education? Please share in the comments!

Elizabeth