Presentation details: Session Title: New Toolkits and Models for Promoting Organizational Learning and Evaluation Capacity Building Multipaper Session 620 to be held in 200 D on Friday, Oct 26, 2:40 PM to 4:10 PM Presentation Abstract: While capacity building is popular in evaluation and education, the process of building organizational capacity is difficult and often unclear. The field of Positive Psychology can provide a framework for understanding and evaluating organizational capacity building. We propose a Collaborative Capacity Building model that emphasizes a strengths-based approach to organizational capacity building. Our conceptualization is based on our role as internal evaluators for the Southeast and Texas Comprehensive Centers (CCs), which are regional assistance centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The primary goal of the CCs is to build the capacity of state departments of education (SDEs) to assists districts and schools. In our model, CC staff and SDE clients use a strengths-based approach to partner in three stages: Prepare, Implement, and Sustain. This model can inform how we conduct future evaluation work, especially with respect to our formative roles as internal evaluators.#2012Conference #OrganizationalLearningandEvalCapacityBuilding