Why evaluate your program?
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This slideshare explains why nonprofit organizations should evaluate their programs. Beyond documenting program outcomes, it argues that program evaluation can and should be a key component of program improvement.
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Why evaluate your program?
- 1. Why Evaluate? Before After www.usablellc.net
- 2. Organizations evaluate in order to find the number.
- 3. The number of kids who graduate from high school.
- 4. The number of people who are able to get and keep a new job for six months.
- 5. The number of points by which students’ math scores rise.
- 6. The number of points by which a psychiatric patient’s depression score decreases.
- 7. These numbers all describe outcomes.
- 8. Outcomes are about the results of a program.
- 9. Outputs are about the steps you followed to produce those outcomes.
- 10. It’s important to understand the difference.
- 11. But what is the number for?
- 12. Why do we need to know the number?
- 13. Well, existing funders want to know if their investments yielded results.
- 14. New funders want to invest in programs that work.
- 15. Board members, staff, clients and community stakeholders want to associate with programs that are effective.
- 16. But what really is the number?
- 17. To be useful, the number has to represent a comparison against expectations.
- 18. Expectations that without the program, people/ institutions/ communities would not have changed.
- 19. Expectations that without the program, people/ institutions/ communities would not have changed. * If you remember back to your statistics course, this was called the null hypothesis.
- 20. So essentially, we have an experiment.
- 21. Differences between the number before the program and the number after the program have to be due to the program*. *All other things being equal
- 22. That was easy, right?
- 23. Pretty reasonable, wouldn’t you say?
- 24. Did you ever sign up for an online service where you had to check a box indicating that you had read and agreed to all the fine print?
- 25. Did you actually read all the fine print?
- 26. Neither did we.
- 27. But in this case you have to.
- 28. Differences between the number before the program and the number after the program have to be due to the program*. *All other things being equal
- 29. But all other things are N E V E R equal.
- 30. The boys may do better than the girls.
- 31. Counselors may interpret the treatment modality differently.
- 32. Participants with different work histories may respond differently to the work readiness program.
- 33. Looking at the average change in: Math Grade Depression Score Months on the job may not be enough.
- 34. But wait, it gets even worse.
- 35. What if the boys do better than the girls UNLESS the girls are taught by Ms. Smith in which case they do better?
- 36. What if more experienced counselors do better regardless of differences in treatment modality?
- 37. What if differences in work histories are only important for workers moving from traditional office work?
- 38. Organizations that want to improve their programs need to understand these differences.
- 39. Because maybe the girls need more teachers like Ms. Smith.
- 40. Because maybe the girls need more teachers like Ms. Smith. *Find out what Ms. Smith does that she’s so effective with the girls.
- 41. And only the less experienced counselors need more training.
- 42. And only the less experienced counselors need more training. * Devote resources to retraining just the less experienced counselors.
- 43. And the workforce readiness program needs to treat people with experience doing office work differently than those who held blue collar jobs.
- 44. And the workforce readiness program needs to treat people with experience doing office work differently than those who held blue collar jobs. * Create two different programs, one for former office workers, the other for former blue collar workers.
- 45. Maybe what this means is that evaluation is about more than just the number.
- 46. Maybe beyond asking the question “did the program work” it should ask: Where did it work? For whom? Under what circumstances?
- 47. We believe that effective organizations use evaluation to document positive outcomes….
- 48. & to inform continuous improvement.
- 49. If you found this useful, we’d love it if you would share it with your networks. www.usablellc.net