Evaluation Roots Reconsidered: Asa Hilliard, a Fallen Hero in the “Nobody Knows My Name” Project, and African Educational Excellence

Abstract

Asa Hilliard has left his mark, and his name belongs in the pantheon of esteemed African American scholars, educational researchers, teachers, and activists. Although his work has served as a clarion call for an Afrocentric orientation in psychology and education to address the needs of African American students, his contributions to the field’s thinking about educational evaluation date back 30 years and have seldom if ever been noted. For nearly three quarters of a century, issues of fairness and equity have guided and driven the work of African American scholars in educational evaluation. These issues remain uppermost in their minds today as they investigate society’s woefully inadequate schools for children from racial minority and/or poor backgrounds. It is within this space that this discourse links the legacy of African American educational researchers and evaluators during the pre- Brown era to Hilliard’s later contributions to the field’s thinking about educational evaluation.