History

Latinx Responsive Evaluation Discourse was formally founded in December 2014. It is a diverse group that aims to create a professional network for individuals from different racial, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds. It originated from Latinx evaluators who wanted a safe space for those working with the Latinx community to promote fair and inclusive practices that prioritize the voices of the Latinx community. The goal was to form a community of scholars and practitioners focused on culturally responsive and equitable evaluation within the Latinx community. The communidad was created to inspire evaluators dedicated to social justice and fair evaluations, and to encourage new ideas, critiques, and analysis of current evaluation practices within the Latinx community.  

Members of the core Latina/o evaluators cadre included: Dr. Arthur E Hernandez, Dr. Lisa Aponte-Soto, Gabriela L. Garcia, Dr. Maria B. Jimenez, Saúl I. Maldonado, and Dr. Leah C. Neubauer. The group reconvened at AEA Evaluation 2013 and Evaluation 2014 to enlist broader participation from Latina/o evaluators who lived experiences position them to practice evaluation through a culturally responsive lens.

Dr. Arthur E. Hernández, NCSP, NCC 

Dr. Arthur E. Hernández has training and experience in clinical psychology, educational psychology, measurement and evaluation, higher education, teacher education, curriculum and instruction, and has taught relevant courses at all levels.

Dr. Hernández is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist and Counselor, a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychological Specialties and is a licensed Psychologist, and Licensed Specialist in School Psychology. He served as a member and Chair of the Texas Board of Examiners of Psychologists and as a member of the Texas Diabetes Council. He currently serves on the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation, a Canadian/American standards organization which represents a coalition of major professional organizations.

Dr. Lisa Aponte - Soto, PhD

Dr. Aponte-Soto is the former Associate Director of Community Engaged Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she managed community-based research and evaluation projects. She was also the National Program Deputy Director of New Connections, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation initiative supporting historically underrepresented scholars. She has led career development programs funded by the U.S. Department of Education, NSF, NASA, and the U.S. Department of Energy.
 
A Board member-at-large for the American Evaluation Association (2018-2021), Dr. Aponte-Soto serves as a faculty affiliate at the CREA Center. She holds a PhD in Community Health Sciences, an MHA from Governors State University, and dual bachelor's degrees from Loyola University Chicago.

Dr. Saúl I. Maldonado, PhD

Co-Director of the American Evaluation Association Graduate Education Diversity Internship (GEDI) professional development program; Associate Professor in the Department of Dual Language and English Learner Education at San Diego State University; and research associate at the Center for Equity and Biliteracy Education Research. A member of the GEDI familia (SANKOFA, 2012-2013), Maldonado’s evaluation experience includes contributions to programs and initiatives for school districts, county offices of education, institutions of higher education and federal agencies. Maldonado is author and co-editor of the book, Assessment and evaluation in bilingual education.

Dr. Gabriela L. Garcia, PhD
Community Advocate & Co-Creator, Catalyzing Organizational Impact Lead
BECOME nonprofit organization 
Area of expertise: culturally responsive practices and evaluation, evaluator competencies, research design, and mixed methods

Dr. Maria Jimenez, PhD

Dr. Maria Jimenez is Senior Evaluation Manager at Volunteers of America Los Angeles, adjunct instructor of Research Methods in Education and Qualitative Research Methods for Evaluation and Applied Research, as well as an independent evaluation and research consultant in the Los Angeles area with a decade of research and evaluation experience. Pioneer of culturally- responsive evaluation (CRE). She holds a B.A. in Sociology from the University of California Santa Cruz, M.A. in Politics in Educational Policy Studies with a specialization in Program Evaluation from the University of Illinois at Urbana Campaign.

Dr. Leah C. Neubauer, EdD, MA, CPH

Associate Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University

 Dr. Neubauer is an internationally recognized expert on curriculum development, teaching, training, & assessment in academic public health and global health-related professions in research across domestic and international multisite settings.