Hood, Stafford L.

(b. 1952, Chicago, Illinois). Ph.D. Education, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; M.S. Guidance and Counseling, B.A. Political Science, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater.

Hood is Professor of Education at Arizona State University. His contributions to understanding and promoting an African American perspective in evaluation have been widespread and influential. Hood published the initial inquiry into the untold legacy of African American scholars and practitioners in educational evaluation during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. He is the founding Codirector of the Relevance of Assessment and Culture in Evaluation annual national conference, established in 2000 at Arizona State University. Hood also established the Relevance of Culture in Evaluation workshop for women and minority teachers in predominantly minority school settings (funded by the National Science Foundation). Hood works diligently as a member of the American Evaluation Association and the Research Focus on Black Education Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association to influence evaluation and research.

Hood was inspired by W.E.B. Dubois and Fredrick Douglass (especially his famous quote: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will.”) His career was influenced by evaluators Leander Boykin, Ernest House, Reid E. Jackson, and Robert Stake. He acknowledges James D. Anderson, Terry Denny, Henry Frierson, Gordon Hoke, and Frederick Rodgers as personal intellectual influences.

Hood was selected as a Fellow of the American Council on Education (2001–2002), is in the Leo High School Hall of Fame (Chicago), and is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.