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Winter 2008 Newsletter

The President’s Message

by Meg Blinkiewicz

Happy New Year MAE members and friends! For MAE, 2008 promises to be an eventful year. In addition to our learning-packed annual conference, members can take advantage of several professional development sessions planned throughout the state.

Please plan to join us on Monday, March 31, in Lansing for the 13th annual MAE conference. The conference theme is “Evaluation: An Integrated Framework for Understanding, Guiding, and Improving Policies and Programs.” Our keynote speaker, Dr. Melvin Mark, will share his framework for understanding how programs and policies contribute to social betterment. The six afternoon workshops provide participants with a wide variety of learning opportunities. Finally, we’ll have an informal networking time where I hope to meet and chat with many MAE members and friends.

In addition to the annual conference, the board is working diligently to develop and sustain meaningful partnerships with organizations that share our mission. We’ve made strides in this important work—securing partnerships for the annual conference and collaborating with organizations to offer our professional development sessions.

Regarding the latter, MAE and Michigan State University co-hosted a very successful professional development workshop with Bob Williams. A second workshop, Hierarchical Linear Modeling, co-hosted with Western Michigan University’s Evaluation Center, is slated for January 30 in Kalamazoo.

The board also is determining the feasibility of adopting and offering an “Evaluation 101” series developed by an Ontario evaluation association. We will continue to update the membership as we move forward with our deliberations regarding this potential component of our professional development portfolio.

These offerings represent MAE’s dedication to convene all sectors of the evaluation community—evaluators, funders, and program users—to focus on how evaluation should be conducted and used. The conference and our professional development opportunities also signify the board’s commitment to ensuring high-quality benefits to MAE members.

We’re off to a great start and I look forward to a productive and rewarding 2008. As always, feel free to contact me directly with your feedback and ideas regarding how to make MAE the best it can be.

MAE Board of Directors Call for Nominations

Board Members-at-Large (Three slots open)

The MAE Elections Subcommittee is currently accepting nominations for open board of director positions. Please take a moment to consider nominating yourself or another member of the MAE. We have a hardworking but friendly group of board members. Working together toward a common goal is the best way to network, form relationships, and contribute toward the greater good. Nominations are due by February 15, 2008.

Method of Voting

MAE members will receive an e-mail prompting them to vote online for the new MAE board members at www.maeeval.org between the dates of February 25 and March 7, 2008. The new board members will be announced at the MAE conference on March 31, 2008.

MAE Service Awards

Please nominate any person or organization that has made a significant effort on behalf of the MAE to support its operational function, obtain financial support, and/or provide educational opportunities for members.

John A. Seeley Friend of Evaluation Award

The recipient of this award will be an individual who

Current board members are not eligible for the awards. The MAE Board of Directors chooses the award winners from the nominations received.

Please contact Jacquie Lafay, MAE Secretariat, for more information and/or to nominate someone by calling (517) 484-4954 or e-mailing to jlafay@pscinc.com.

Award nominations are due by February 15, 2008.

2008 Conference Registration

MAE 13th Annual Conference

Evaluation: An Integrated Framework for Understanding, Guiding, and Improving Policies and Programs

Featuring Dr. Melvin Mark of Penn State University, editor emeritus of the American Journal of Evaluation, and past president of the American Evaluation Association, as the keynote speaker.

MARCH 31, 2008

Lansing, Michigan at the Radisson Downtown

Who should attend?

Anyone involved with or interested in evaluation, including funders, administrators, program managers, students, quality control or evaluation staff, and consultants will want to attend.

After his keynote presentation, Dr. Mark will entertain questions from the audience and facilitate a discussion. Following a complimentary lunch, further opportunities for learning and discussion are scheduled. Adhering to the mission of the MAE, a variety of workshops are planned to meet the needs of persons with varying degrees of evaluation knowledge and experience.

For those just starting to learn about evaluation, Christian Coryn, Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University, will present The Field of Evaluation 101. This interactive session is designed to orient those new to the field.

Knowledge Management 101, presented by Dr. Cynthia Phillips, Phillips Wyatt Knowlton Inc., will provide an introduction to knowledge management and demonstrate its strategic application to evaluation. Often overwhelmed by data, those conducting program evaluations will appreciate this approach, which helps them distill what’s important and apply this new knowledge to improve programs and policies.

Principled Discovery: Learning from your data, with reason and What Works When: Unraveling how context affects program effectiveness are two sessions geared to the more experienced evaluator and presented by the keynote speaker, Dr. Mark.

An additional session called The Success Case Method: Measuring and accelerating impact of training (and other change initiatives) simply, credibly, and quickly, presented by Robert Brinkerhoff, is also geared to more experienced evaluators.

The Funders’ Perspectives on Evaluation will provide valuable insights to everyone. This panel discussion between funders will address what several Michigan foundations look for in both evaluations and evaluators.

To end the day, please join fellow conference attendees for an informal networking gathering. Snacks and drinks will be available and a variety of items donated by members will be raffled off. Two complimentary raffle tickets are included in your registration packet.

Register by March 3 for early registration rates, and of course, there is a discounted registration price for MAE members. Click here to register online.

  Early Registration
(by March 3)		 Registration
(after March 3)
Members $95 $120
Students $50 $60
Non-Members $135 $160

For more information about the conference program, or if you wish to be a conference sponsor, contact the conference co-chairs: Meg Blinkiewicz at (269) 929-1982 or Liz Agius at (313) 577-5251.

Professional Development Opportunities

Hierarchial Linear Modeling

Place: The Evaluation Center at Western Michigan University
4405 Ellsworth Hall Room 4410, Kalamazoo, MI 49008
Date: January 30, 2008
Time: 9:00 AM to Noon
Cost: $40 for MAE Members, $60 for Non-members

Do you work with multilevel data? For example, patients nested within hospitals (2 levels of data) or students nested within classrooms, which are nested within schools (3 levels of data). Have you struggled with analyzing and understanding the different levels of data? If so, we have the workshop for you!

HLM is a statistical technique for analyzing hierarchical or nested data that appropriately accounts for the various levels of data. This workshop provides an overview of the usefulness of HLM and a hands-on introduction to the HLM software.

Dr. Jessaca Spybrook has expertise in using HLM as well as teaching first-time users how to understand how HLM works, its benefits, and how to use it on evaluation and research projects. Dr. Spybrook is a senior researcher at The Evaluation Center. Her expertise is in the design and analysis of experiments that test the effectiveness of educational interventions. She coauthored the software and documentation for Optimal Design, a program that assists researchers in planning adequately powered studies. Dr. Spybrook holds a master’s degree in applied statistics and a doctorate in education from the University of Michigan.

Participants are asked to bring a laptop and install the HLM student version ahead of time so that they can participate in the workshop. The HLM student version is free and can be downloaded by clicking here.

Please note: This workshop also will be presented on the east side of the state in spring 2008.

Summer Research Training Institute: Cluster-Randomized Trials

The National Center for Education Research in the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education has announced it second Summer Research Training Institute on Cluster-Randomized Trials to increase the national capacity of researchers to develop and conduct rigorous evaluations of the impact of education interventions.

When: July 6–18, 2008
Where: Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
To apply: Information is available on the IES website; click here for further information.

For assistance please contact Dr. Christina Chhin at (202) 219-2280 or christina.chhin@ed.gov.

MAE Member News

RMK Management Support is celebrating its 15th anniversary offering services to nonprofit organizations in evaluation, grant writing, and organizational and program development. RMK founder Rita McPhail, LMSW, is currently serving her second term as an MAE board member. She is also the founder and chair of the Child Abuse Prevention Endowment Fund for Calhoun County.

MAE member Julie Metty Bennett and MAE board member Jane Powers have been promoted to the rank of vice president at Public Sector Consultants Inc. a Lansing-based public policy research firm. Bennett becomes VP for Natural Resources and Powers becomes VP for Community Health. Mark Coscarelli was also promoted to the position of Vice President for Great lakes and the Environment.

New Newsletter Feature!

As a service to our members, the MAE is adding a Member News section to our newsletter. Although viewed by our larger audience, only current MAE members may post information. If you want to share the news of a recent promotion, project, achievement, training, contract, or any other professional milestone, please send the information listed below to the MAE Secretariat at info@maeeval.org in order to be included in upcoming newsletters.

Call for Articles

The MAE newsletter includes articles on evaluation theory, practice, and methods, as well as articles on related technology and tools, to assist evaluators, funders, and program stakeholders in their work. Articles should be original works or previously published with documentation of permission to reprint, 500 to 1,500 words in length, and submitted electronically. Articles may be submitted at any time for consideration by MAE; the person submitting the article will be notified prior to its publication.

Please submit your articles to the MAE Secretariat at info@maeeval.org.

MAE Membership

Click here to view the MAE Membership brochure.

MAE Secretariat Contact Information

Jacqueline LaFay
MAE Secretariat
c/o Public Sector Consultants
600 W St. Joseph St., Suite 10
Lansing, MI 48933
Phone: (517) 484-4954
Fax: (517) 484-6549
E-mail: jlafay@pscinc.com

Newsletter Feedback

Please let us know how you like (or dislike) the new format of the MAE Newsletter. Please e-mail your comments to info@maeeval.org.