Program Assessment

Before you get started

• Need to determine if the program can be evaluated or should be evaluated.

• Is the answer already available?

Steps involved

• Engage Stakeholders• Focus the Evaluation• Describe program • Define purpose• Determine use/users• Determine key questions• Select indicators• Determine design

Program assessment

• A proposal• Allows for an investigation in advance of the

actual evaluation.• A rough plan that guides the complicated

process.

Engage

• Make sure you know who this is for– Organization– Specific Program

• Who should be involved?• How might they be engaged?• Involve as many stakeholders as you can in at

least part of the planning.

Purpose of Evaluation?

• What do you want to be able to decide as a result of the evaluation?

For example:

• Understand, verify or increase impact of products or services on customers/clients (eg, outcomes evaluation)

• Improve delivery mechanisms to be more efficient and less costly (eg, process evaluation)

• Verify that we're doing what we think we're doing (eg, process evaluation)

• Clarify program goals, processes and outcomes for management planning

• Public relations• Program comparisons, eg., to decide which should be

retained• Fully examine and describe effective programs for

duplication elsewhere

Describe program

• Analyze to understand as much of the program as possible.

• Write a description of the program with input from the stakeholders

• Create a logic model of the program. • The description defines the parameters and

expectations of the evaluation.

Audience(s)

Who are the audiences for the information from the evaluation?

o Clients/customerso Funders/Investorso Board memberso Managemento Staff/employeeso Other(s)

What kinds of information are needed to make the decision you need to make and/or enlighten your intended audiences?__ The process of the product or service delivery (its inputs, activities and outputs)__ The customers/clients who experience the product or service__ Strengths and weaknesses of the product or service__ Benefits to customers/clients (outcomes)__ How the product or service failed and why, etc.__ Other type(s) of information?

Type of Evaluation?

Based on the purpose of the evaluation and the kinds of information needed, what types of evaluation is being planned?__ Goal-based?__ Process-based?__ Outcomes-based?__ Other(s)?

Where Should Information Be Collected From?

Staff/employeesClients/customersProgram documentationFunders/InvestorsOther(s)

How Can Information Be Collected in Reasonable and Realistic Fashion?

__ questionnaires__ interviews__ documentation__ observing clients/customers__ observing staff/employees__ conducting focus groups__ other(s)

When is the Information Needed?

• Negotiating the timeline is difficult but it must be planned and made official

• One decision maker

What Resources Are Available to Collect the Information?

• Financial• In kind• Existing material

Dissemination

• What do you want to be able to decide as a result of the evaluation?

• Who has access to the findings?• In what format will the findings be shared?

Audience(s)

Who are the audiences for the information from the evaluation?

o Clients/customerso Funders/Investorso Board memberso Managemento Staff/employeeso Other(s)