Evaluation.
On this page I will provide you with some basic information about evaluation and direct you to some very good resources. My goal here is to help you to develop in-house capacity to evaluate, However, I can also provide consultation on your evaluation design and/or conduct an evaluation of your program.
About Evaluation:
Evaluation allows you to document what happened in your program, decide which strategies worked best and assess the outcomes of your work.
There are two main reasons for evaluating programs and services:
1. For continuous improvement of programs and services
2. To be accountable to funders
What gets measured gets done
If you don’t measure success, you can’t tell success from failure
If you can’t see success you can’t reward it
If you can’t reward success, you’re probably rewarding failure
If you can’t see success, you can’t learn from it
If you can’t recognize failure, you can’t correct it
If you can demonstrate results, you can win public support
(Re-inventing government, Osborne and Gaebler, 1992)
The best time to develop an evaluation system is at the stage where you are planning the program you intend to deliver. At a minimum, your evaluation plan should include the activities you expect to engage in, the outcomes you hope to achieve, success indicators and timelines.
Evaluation resources:
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation Evaluation Handbook is an excellent resource on the basics of evaluation:
http://www.wkkf.org/Pubs/Tools/Evaluation/Pub770.pdf
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation also provides an online Guide to logic model development:
http://www.wkkf.org/Pubs/Tools/Evaluation/Pub3669.pdf
The University of Arizona Institute for Children Youth and Families has published a Community Based Evaluation Guide that demonstrates a five-tiered approach to program evaluation:
http://ag.arizona.edu/fcs/cyfernet/cyfar/stst_guide.pdf
Developing a logic model work plan: One great way to design an evaluation is to create a logic model. The University of Wisconsin-Extension site provides information on everything you might want to know about logic models - and more:
http://www.uwex.edu/ces/pdande/evaluation/evallogicmodel.html
Developing evaluation instruments, gathering data and analyzing and using your results: Once you have created your evaluation plan, the next step is to decide how you will gather information that will demonstrate the results of your work. Some ways to gather information include interviews, surveys, focus groups, observation, pre and post-testing. Validated instruments are available for some specific forms of testing, or you can design your own. Some validated instruments are can be accessed online:
The Smart Start Evaluation Assistance Team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill:
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/smartstart/tools.cfm
Winterberry Press - to order instruments and resources related to strengths based child development and family support practices:
http://www.wbpress.com/index.php?main_page=index&book_authors_id=1&typefilter=book_authors
Once you have gathered your evaluation data, you will need to perform some analysis and decide how you will use the results. Again, the University of Wisconsin-Extension site has some very good resources related to these phases of the evaluation process:
http://www.uwex.edu/ces/pdande/resources/quicktipsubject.html#collect
Contact me if I can be of assistance with your evaluation planning.