Intended Audience

The ESM program is intended for students with education, social science, applied statistics, and/or related academic backgrounds seeking employment within the growing fields of applied evaluation, assessment, and statistics. These fields have grown substantially in response to the needs of the federal and state governments, non-profit organizations and foundations, and private sector entities to demonstrate and continually improve the effectiveness of their programs and services. The ESM doctoral program is based squarely upon the needs of students seeking to enter ESM fields, expand opportunities within their current professional situation, or prepare for an academic career and engage in research.

Program Features

There are several unique features of the ESM program:

• Focused Competency Development:  All students are exposed to a solid academic core of specific knowledge, skills and professional dispositions in the form of foundational ESM theory, concepts, and applied competencies.
• Theory to Practice Course-Based Field Experiences: Each student is required to engage in multiple hands-on fields experiences linked to specific ESM courses content, enabling the students to personally experience the application of theory to real-world practical problems.
• Theory to Practice Internships Targeted to Student Interests: Students are required to fulfill two evaluation internships in organizations settings (university,  community-based, or other settings) in an area of professional or career interests.
• Highly Experienced & Engaged Faculty: The ESM faculty are highly experienced and productive scholars with a mix of expertise and experience in research, evaluation, assessment, and applied statistics. The current three faculty members have many decades of combined experience directly relevant to the ESM program. All ESM faculty are also actively engaged in major professional associations (e.g., American Evaluation Association, Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association).
• Regular Access to One-on-One Faculty Support & Guidance: Advanced ESM courses, focusing on the application of knowledge and skills, have a small class size which provide students with ideal learning opportunities for targeted group and one-on-one instruction.