Preparing the 21st century evaluator for language equity: Towards a language equity centered evaluation practice

Clear and effective communication is a critical component of any evaluation design. An aspect of communication that is often overlooked is understanding a community's preferred language(s). This is a result of a power‐based system that operates under a dominant language and cultural structure. When language preferences are not appropriately addressed in evaluation design and implementation, the effect is the intentional or unintentional exclusion of groups of people affected by the very programs whose impact we seek to understand. This requires deeper engagement and continual commitment from evaluation teams to fully integrate language equity throughout an evaluation, from initial development to dissemination, to ensure activities maintain cultural equivalence and integrity surrounding language complexity. Authors propose actionable strategies evaluators can apply to assess and address language needs in evaluation design and implementation.