Undergraduate certificate in community‐based assessment and evaluation

Abstract

Undergraduate education is not typically considered an appropriate space for educating future evaluators. In this chapter, we challenge this assumption by explaining how one such program, the academic certificate in Community‐Based Assessment and Evaluation (CBAE), has produced multiple cohorts of well‐trained students. We describe the impetus for starting CBAE, its philosophical orientation and curricular requirements, our available resources, and the challenges we faced in ensuring its successful implementation. Through dogged determination and a commitment to our students and our surrounding communities, CBAE has emerged as a legitimate training ground for aspiring evaluators and an essential element to our institution's commitment to serving Mexican American students. We hope that reading our story will open educators to the idea that undergraduates are capable of achieving competence and that local communities benefit from the next generation of culturally responsive evaluators.