With 120+ Evaluators and growing in the Network, we are highlighting an ACE Evaluation Network Member each month to share their experiences and current projects with the ETB® community.

Advancing Culturally-responsive and Equitable (ACE) Evaluation Network Member Sylvia Epps, PhD is the Chief Operating Officer and Director of Research Operations at Decision Information Resources, Inc (DIR). She completed her undergraduate and doctoral studies in Human Development at the University of Texas at Austin and postdoctoral training at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. With over 18 years of experience, she specializes in designing and leading large-scale evaluations, particularly for underserved populations. Dr. Epps has published research on low-income children’s development and actively engages in the American Evaluation Association’s culturally responsive practice initiatives.

The following excerpts are from an interview during the 2024 ETB Gathering at the AEA Annual Conference:

How has being a part of ETB impacted you?

When I first became a member, a while ago, I think soon after the ACE Evaluation Network‘s inception, what I recall from that process of completing the application was it being very cathartic. I thought about the fact that no one ever asked me about my portfolio of work from an equity lens in a way that Expanding the Bench® did in the application. So in my mind, completing the application was a win whether they accepted me or not. But I did get accepted. Come of the benefits I can elevate from my membership have been gaining a couple contracts through partnerships from organizations and funders that found out about DIR through the network. The impact has been both personal and professional and now as a leader of my organization and just seeing the impact that me being an individual member has brought to the organization has been amazing.

How do you hope to implement CREE in the future?

When I first started doing this work twenty plus years ago culturally responsive and equitable evaluation (CREE) was not a label that we used. So when I think about what that means for the future in terms of the shift —the narrative shift, commitment to equity, the shift for the industry— I just think about the opportunity that still exist to ensure that our partners who are not sharing space with us have the right kind of tools, experience, exposure, awareness to be able to apply CREE principles in their work no matter what they do and no matter the industry. What I see as a future for applying CREE is that it is more of the norm, not the exception.

How do you see yourself engaging in ETB in the future?

ETB in the future looks like an expanded network where I can leverage the network of evaluators at DIR as well as those partners that we work with. It’s expanding how we partner and collaborate with ETB and is something that I’m excited to think about as a minority owned, women led organization. There are few of us out there doing the work in this industry and providing opportunities for evaluators of color was part of the reason DIR was created. I would like to think about how we can expand the partnership with a ETB so that we can bring this network to more communities.

Where do you see ETB in the next 10 years?

ETB is already a thought leader. I consider them a convener bringing together some of the brightest research scholars who are curious and committed to culturally responsible and equitable evaluators. What ETB has brought to the research industry I think is applicable across sectors. I see ETB as a leader in expanding our work and ongoing learning to other industries, making it more accessible and increasing its value to communities. I can’t wait to see what that looks like for ETB.

To learn more about Sylvia, view her Evaluator Database profile.