MetaEvaluation:
Coworking, Practice Groups, Project Consulting & Coaching
This work is for practicing evaluators who share a desire to transform evaluation towards practices that disrupt rather than maintain the status quo. Metaevaluation is the practice of evaluating an evaluation. In our 2024 Core Concepts in Evaluation chapter, Dr. Tiffany Tovey and I laid out the case for writing a new story about what metaevaluation can be. The old story, largely defined by the white, male standard bearers of the field, calls for an overly technocratic, impractical, retrospective process that serves the needs of funders and largely inspires anxiety and apathy towards the entire practice. It’s an outdated view on what should be a lively, ongoing reflective practice.
In that chapter, we issued a call to action - “Evaluators themselves must take up the charge and practice metaevaluation with intention.” We envisioned a new story for metaevaluation, one that encompasses many practices and is met with humility and compassion. An ongoing and iterative practice that individuals and teams can engage in through principled reflection.
