ATE Impacts 2020-2021

EvaluATE's Research Builds Knowledge Base about Evaluation Through four new research endeavors, EvaluATE is working to fill knowledge gaps about the practice and use of evaluation in ATE programs: • What are the core tasks that evaluators and principal investigators engage in over the course of an evaluation? Who does what and what do they need to be able to do? • How do project personnel navigate the pitfalls of securing evaluation services, especially when the expectations of their institutions, NSF, and evaluators may be at odds? • How do ATE projects evaluate their work in terms of equity, diversity, and inclusion? What is their capacity to gather meaningful data related to NSF's important priority to broaden participation in STEM? • The value of evaluation lies in its potential to produce accurate and useful information that improves a grant-funded initiative while it is a work-in-progress and to assess its impact. What does the use of evaluation look like in the ATE program? What makes an evaluation useful? Who uses evaluation results and how? EvaluATE is using diverse methods and engaging research partners from across the ATE program to tackle these and other questions about evaluation practice and impact. EvaluATE endeavors to strengthen evaluation in the ATEprogram to build a strong evidence base about outcomes and effective practices. 65