The American Evaluation Association (AEA) is a professional association for evaluators and those with a professional interest in the field of evaluation, including practitioners, faculty, students, funders, managers, and government decision-makers. As of 2014, AEA has approximately 7057 members from all 50 US states and over 60 other countries.
The American Evaluation Association's mission is to:
Improve evaluation practices and methods
Increase evaluation use
Promote evaluation as a profession and
Support the contribution of evaluation to the generation of theory and knowledge about effective human action.
AEA Publishes the AEA: Guiding Principles for Evaluators, which set expectations for evaluators in the areas of: (a) systematic inquiry, (b) competence, (c) integrity/honesty, (d) respect for people, and (e) responsibilities for general and public welfare.
AEA sponsors two journals. The American Journal of Evaluation is published quarterly through SAGE Publications and includes individually peer-reviewed articles on a range of topics in the field. New Directions for Evaluation is a peer-reviewed thematic sourcebook published quarterly through Jossey-Bass/Wiley, with each issue focusing on a different topic or aspect of evaluation.
As of September 2014, AEA has 51 topically-focused subgroups. Each subgroup develops a strand of content for the association’s annual conference, and works to build a community of practice through various means.
Advocacy and Policy Change
Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health
Assessment in Higher Education
Business, Leadership, and Performance
Cluster, Multi-Site and Multi-Level Evaluation
Collaborative, Participatory & Empowerment Evaluation
College Access Programs
Community Psychology
Costs, Effectiveness, Benefits, and Economics
Crime and Justice
Data Visualization and Reporting
Disabilities and Other Vulnerable Populations
Disaster and Emergency Management Evaluation
Distance Education and Other Educational Technologies
Environmental Program Evaluation
Evaluating the Arts and Culture
Evaluation Managers and Supervisors
Evaluation Policy
Evaluation Use
Extension Education Evaluation
Feminist Issues in Evaluation
Government Evaluation
Graduate Student and New Evaluators
Health Evaluation
Human Services Evaluation
Independent Consulting
Indigenous Peoples in Evaluation
Integrating Technology into Evaluation
Internal Evaluation
International and Cross-Cultural Evaluation
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Issues
Mixed Methods in Evaluation
Multiethnic Issues in Evaluation
Needs Assessment
Non-Profits and Foundations Evaluation
Organizational Learning and Evaluation Capacity Building
Prek-12 Educational Evaluation
Program Theory and Theory Driven Evaluation
Program Design
Qualitative Methods
Quantitative Methods: Theory and Design
Research on Evaluation
Research, Technology, and Development Evaluation
Social Network Analysis
Social Work
Stem Evaluation
Systems in Evaluation
Teaching of Evaluation
Theories of Evaluation
Translational Research Evaluation
Youth Focus Evaluation
Merger of ERS and ENet
In 1986, the Evaluation Research Society and Evaluation Network merged to become the American Evaluation Association.
