EvaluationRevisiting what it is...Who are Stakeholders and why do they matter?Dissemination – when, where and how?

Evaluation is

• An ongoing systematic collection of information on the purpose, process and outcomes of “ ______________________ “

• Program evaluation improves practice

• Program evaluation is proactive.• Do it now to improve your success• Don’t wait for a stakeholder to ask for it

• Program evaluation involves careful planning and on-going information collection

Evaluation can be used to• Identify a problem

• Create or select a program to address an issue

• Judge the effectiveness of a program or thing

• Make changes, improve the exisisting program or thing

• Provide accountability

Considerations (a few)• Practicality• Feasibility• Ethics• Accuracy• Resource and time constraints• Political, organizational, and personal contexts

Stakeholders

• Stakeholders are people: • invested in program• interested in program• engaged in program activities• have a stake in program success or failure

• Stakeholders “can”:• improve program implementation• increase support for program• boost program credibility

Who are stakeholders???It depends on what you are evaluating. However, given many of the ‘typical’ programs. Some examples include:•Students •Parents•Administrators•Staff•Clients•Community and business leaders•Representatives of advocacy groups•National and state agencies•Critics•Funders

Internal versus External

• Internal Stakeholders • Program participants and staff

• External Stakeholders• Funders, Community, Schools, Program Partners

Planning to Dissemination

• Keep those involved (yes, you) focused on the evaluation

• Prepare stakeholders for results

• Be sure evaluation is useful, feasible, ethical and accurate.

Preliminary results

• Provide to program staff and stakeholders to maintain their interest and help them see value in evaluation activities.

• Are there program or evaluation problems that can be addressed immediately?

• How comfortable are we with findings as they emerge?

• How should we plan to communicate findings to stakeholders?

Justification• Use findings of program evaluation to show the benefits

to stakeholders connected and beyond

• Make group presentations and consider 1-on-1 discussions to clarify outcomes and recommendations

• May need to educate stakeholders not only about the program but in general, about evaluation

Quality Communication• Summarize program, goals, objectives and evaluation

• Present clear, succinct results

• Make recommendations for program• AND discuss advantages and disadvantages

• Remove technical jargon

• Use neutral tone and visual aids

Evaluation Report Outline

• Section 1:(Executive) Summary• Section 2: Purposes of Evaluation• Section 3: Background Information• Section 4: Description of the Evaluation Study & Design• Section 5: Results• Section 6: Discussion of Program and its Results• Section 7: Conclusions & Recommendations