Evaluation Across Boundaries: Building an Unshakable Future for Evaluation Through Rigor,Relevance,and Reach

Abstract

As evaluators navigate the 2025–2026 context of funding disruptions, shifting institutional priorities, accelerating technology, and changing expectations for evidence, this essay argues that Evaluation Across Boundaries is more than the 2026 American Evaluation Association conference theme. It is a practical strategy for strengthening rigor, relevance, and reach and thereby building a more resilient future for evaluation. Crossing boundaries across sectors, disciplines, methods, communities, cultures, and generations can deepen rigor through fit-for-purpose inquiry and transparent reasoning; increase relevance through closer connection to real questions, real decisions, and real lives; and expand reach through learning that travels beyond a single project, report, or funding stream. The essay frames evaluation as a natural human need and a societal necessity—essential to sound judgment, responsible decision making, and collective progress—and calls the field to stand fully in its professional maturity, consider responsible innovation including artificial intelligence, and commit to practical actions for evaluators, organizations, and professional communities.