Leslie Goodyear, EDC distinguished scholar, is an internationally recognized expert in evaluation and evaluation capacity building. She specializes in evaluating education initiatives including afterschool, youth development, and STEM education programs in K-12, informal, and higher education settings. She has deep expertise in building communities of practice, qualitative and mixed-methods inquiry, and evaluation ethics.

A past president of the American Evaluation Association, Goodyear leads evaluations for federal, state, and private clients; facilitates evaluation capacity building; and serves as an evaluation adviser. Her recent evaluations include Peter Kiewit Foundation Engineering Academy, the Illinois 21st Century Community Learning Center Program, the National Academies Societal Experts Action Network, and multiple evaluation capacity-building initiatives for the National Science Foundation.

As a program officer at NSF, Goodyear oversaw awards and commissioned evaluations. She served as the Ethics Section and associate editor of the American Journal of Evaluation and was chair of AEA’s Ethics Committee. She is co-editor of Qualitative Inquiry in Evaluation.

Goodyear holds a PhD and MS in Program Evaluation and Planning from Cornell University and a BA in Developmental Psychology from Macalester College.