AEA Conference Session 740. The extent to which evaluators ought to engage with stakeholders in designing an evaluation has been widely debated. Those who favor utilization-focused evaluation argue that adjusting the design of an evaluation to accommodate stakeholder concerns may increase utilization of the evaluation. Others argue that stakeholder influence should be minimized and evaluators should design robust evaluations framed by preset standards. In this session, I share how I came to collaborate with decision-making stakeholders in proposing a federally funded K-12 professional development project and developing evaluation instruments. The collaboration contributed to the investment of decision-making stakeholders in a rigorous evaluation. #Prek-12EducationalEvaluation #2010Conference #EvaluationUse