Development of a Public Policy Program Within the American Evaluation Association

美国评估协会（AEA）是美国唯一的国家评估专家专业协会，因此，应该在国家政策问题上代表专业人士发言。然而，美国环境投资委员会以前从未就公共政策问题向更广泛的社区提供指导，因此缺乏这样做的程序。布什政府提议对所有4年级和8年级的公立学校学生进行数学和阅读测试，在目前的辩论中，拥有这样的声音尤为重要。由于测试提案具体涉及根据测试结果对公立学校采取的行动，因此这主要是一个评估问题，将受益于评估人员的分析。AEA将创建一个程序，以制定一份关于布什政府考试问题的政策声明，以及随后将选择的其他三个问题，这些问题也将涉及数学和科学界的关切。其目的是在AEA组织内部建立一种持续的能力，以调动组织的资源来处理政策问题。

The American Evaluation Association (AEA) is the only National professional association for evaluators in the U.S. and, as such, should speak for the profession on National policy issues. However, AEA has never before provided guidance to the broader community on public policy issues and therefore lacks the procedures to do so. Having such a voice is particularly critical now with the current debate of the Bush Administration's proposal to test all 4th and 8th grade public school students in mathematics and reading. Because the testing proposal deals specifically with actions that to be taken with regard to public schools based on the outcomes of the tests, this is primarily an evaluation issue and would benefit from an analysis by evaluators. AEA will create a process for developing a policy statement on the Bush Administration testing issue and on three other issues to be selected later that also address concerns of the mathematics and science community. The aim is to establish an ongoing capability within the AEA organization to mobilize the organization's resources to deal with policy questions.