Friday, April 19, 2013

Program Evaluation and Improvement

Program Evaluation and Improvement (Yuanjie and Kanita)




prgram evaluation video




Program evaluation and improvement

Program evaluation is an essential organizational practice in social programs. However, it is not practice consistently across program areas, nor is it sufficiently well-integrated into the day-to-day management of most programs.

Effective program evaluation is a systematic way to improve and account for public health and social service actions by involving procedures that are useful, feasible, ethical, and accurate.

The author provides a framework, which is composed of six steps that must be taken into account for any evaluation.

Step 1: Engage stakeholders

Step 2: Describe that program

Step 3: Focus the evaluation design

Step 4: Gather credible evidence

Step 5: Justify conclusion

Step 6: Ensure use and share lessons learned

Stakeholders must be engaged in the inquiry to ensure that their perspectives are understood. When stakeholders are not engaged, an evaluation might not address important elements of a program’s objectives, operations, and outcomes.

Program descriptions convey the mission and objectives of the program being evaluated. Descriptions should be sufficiently detailed to ensure understanding of program goals and strategies.

The evaluation must be focused to assess the issues of greatest concern to stakeholders while using time and resources as efficiently as possible

An evaluation should strive to collect information that will convey a well-rounded picture of the program so that the information is seen as credible by the evaluation’ primary users.

The evaluation conclusions are justified when they are linked to the evidence gathered and judged against agreed-upon values or standards set by the stakeholders.

Deliberate effort is needed to ensure that the evaluation processes and findings are used and disseminated appropriately.

 

One of the most significant benefits that a program evaluation communicates is the need to make improvements.

Examples of the types of improvements that an evaluation may reveal could include:

·         The elimination of program services and activities that do not achieve program outcomes

·         The addition of other services and activities that are better designed to achieve outcomes

·         Acquiring more adequate resources to support program services and activities

·         Target a different group of participants to receive program services because there are an inadequate number of specified participants available to receive services

These and/or other types of program improvements that are revealed by the evaluation findings should be viewed and communicated as an opportunity to make the program better.


How have you used the CDC framework in your line of work to evaluate something?

What other frameworks to find to be more effective then this particular framework?

What are some possible ways in which you can engage stakeholders?

What important factors can you take away from the youtube video link posted?




Reference:

Posavac EJ, Carey RG. Program evaluation: methods and case studies. Englewood Cliffs. NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1980.

Eddy DM. Performance measurement: problems and solutions. Health Aff 1998;17(4):7-25.

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