Chapter 10: Using Theory-Driven Evaluation with Underserved Communities: Promoting Program Development and Program Sustainability

When I presented my thinking concerning the use of theory-driven evaluation with underserved and often diverse communities at the Relevance of Assessment and Culture in Evaluation (RACE) 2003 conference in January 2003, I had been reflecting upon my experiences with the approach for nearly 2 years and had written two opinion articles in Mechanisms (Bledsoe, 2003; Donaldson, 2001), the newsletter of the Program Theory and Theory-Driven Evaluation Topical Interest Group, a division of the American Evaluation Association (AEA). My goal then had been to defend the theory-driven evaluation approach from the critiques that it lacks realism (Scriven, 1997; Stufflebeam, 2001) and is unable to provide useful information for communities that often cannot afford the time and expense that evaluation, especially theory-driven evaluation, supposedly can require (Scriven, 1997). I also had taken the discussion a step further by suggesting (perhaps rather boldly) that the theory-driven approach was also a mechanism to promote program sustainability (Bledsoe, 2003). I had significant success using theory-driven evaluation with several community-based programs designed for communities of color and thus wanted to reflect upon and share with others those experiences (e.g., Bledsoe, Gilbert, Fischbein, Cervantes, & Dragan, 2001; Bledsoe & Graham, 2005). The current chapter is a result of those reflections and experiences, and is designed to expand the knowledge and usefulness of the theory-driven approach beyond the “ivory tower” of academia.