The Next Generation of Theory and Practice: Rethinking Equity through Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment” CREA Third International Conference

Conference website:  http://education.illinois.edu/CREA/conference

“Unquestionably, the continuing disproportionate inequities confronting traditionally disenfranchised communities in education, poverty, health care, and rates of incarceration must remain a primary focus of our collective effort as a global CREA community. It is also critically important that we substantively incorporate the unique assets of our culturally diverse communities in evaluations and assessments to address the inequities facing these communities. We are compelled and responsible for raising questions about what is being done to address the problems by aggressively developing, implementing and advocating approaches that contribute to solutions.

THEMES

? Broadening participation in STEM and beyond

? Capacity building in global and local communities and neighborhoods

? Development of equitable measures, methods and metrics

? Policies and practices of influence and consequence

? Examples of effective models of collaborations and networks

The 2016 CREA conference issues a call for papers that demonstrate the kinds of interventions in education, health care, criminal justice, and social services that are being undertaken to address inequities. What has been attempted? What are the results? What works for whom, why, and in what circumstances?

Proposals are invited that address one or more of the following:

1. Reports of interventions/programs—We invite papers that describe interventions/programs that addressed a particular type of inequity that also includes discussions of outcomes and impacts in education, poverty, health care, and in other social sectors.

2. Development of an evidence base— We invite papers that discuss new waves of thinking about evidence of effectiveness, program impact, and interventions that target people of color including indigenous communities. To determine whether interventions/programs are successfully addressing social, health and educational inequities, we need robust evidence base not simply for purposes of problem diagnosis but also to determine the effectiveness of remedies. .

3. Theory of change— We invite papers that explore the plausibility and testability of various theories of change that address inequities in specific, local circumstances, that is, theories of cause and effect that attribute change to intervention/program’s strategies and action. The focus is on how theoretical and applied research (i.e. practitioners) explain individual, intergroup, and social/ systemic change occurs, specifically how, their actions will produce positive results.

4. Instrumentation—We invite papers that address the development of measures and indicators that contribute to improved understanding of teaching and learning processes, especially measures and indicators that capture changes resulting from interventions in the teaching and learning processes of
underrepresented individuals and populations. Likewise, we invite papers that address similar issues of instrumentation in health, psychological and cultural assessment.