Integrating evaluation into an Extension program offers multiple opportunities to understand program success through achieving program goals and objectives, delivering programming using the most effective techniques, and refining program audiences. It is less common that evaluation is used to guide and validate the effectiveness of program…

Nonprofit organizations are under great pressure to use evaluations to show that their programs "work" and that they are "effective." However, empirical evidence indicates that nonprofits struggle to perform useful evaluations, especially when conducted under accountability pressures. An increasing body of evidence highlights…

Program evaluation often suffers due to time constraints, imperfect instruments, incomplete data, and the need to report standardized metrics. This article about the evaluation process for the Wi$eUp financial education program showcases the difficulties inherent in evaluation and suggests best practices for assessing program effectiveness. We…

There is a growing call for evaluation capacity building (ECB); although the area currently lacks a rich research base, there are few robust methods and practice through which to define it. The argument in this article is that the impact of evaluation is mediated by program stakeholders' engagement in evaluation activities. This mediation provides…

This study reports on a large-scale implementation of Assessment for Learning (AfL) in a Swedish municipality. The implementation was founded on two principles: (1) teaching should be informed by educational research; (2) to be successful teachers' professional development needs to be based in everyday classroom practice. From these principles,…

Background: Evaluation is a tool that can promote accountability and enhance organizational improvement. For these reasons funding entities from government to foundations are increasingly relying on program evaluation as a key instrument to determine effectiveness and hold recipient organizations accountable. What has ensued is an environment of…

Current economic conditions and the increasing competition for government funding are leading to an increased focus on the impact of research. Measuring the impact of research is difficult because not all impacts are direct and some can be negative or result from the identification of problems that require a non-research response. The time between…

In 2006, six community and technical colleges in Washington State joined the innovative national reform initiative called Achieving the Dream (ATD). This report describes the progress each college made in implementing ATD's "culture of evidence" principles for institutional improvement, examines strategies implemented by the colleges to…

In this brief, a program evaluation is defined, address common concerns program managers and practitioners have regarding evaluation, and outline five major reasons why conducting a program evaluation can benefit an out-of-school time program. Program evaluation is a valuable tool for program managers who are seeking to strengthen the quality of…

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, "good program evaluations assess programs performance, measure impacts on families and communities, and document program successes." With this information, programs are able to direct limited resources to where they are most needed and most effective in their communities. This article is…

Establishing an online community of professional learners was one component of a multi-year professional development project with an overall goal of improving the ability of career and technical educators to use and interpret technical assessment data. Educators from five states and nine different schools participated in a research-based workshop…

This guide is designed to help districts and schools evaluate reform efforts related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), including School Improvement Grants. It includes practical, how-to tips for conducting program evaluations, whether one takes a "do-it-yourself" approach or seeks outside assistance to evaluate reform…

The research reported in this paper is focused directly on assessing the validity of the "Teaching Knowledge about Reading and Reading Practices" (TKRRP) assessment. Following the recommendations of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (APA/AERA, 1999), the authors see validation as a process of constructing an…

The Canadian Evaluation Society explored the benefits that can be attributed to program evaluation, the outputs necessary to achieve those benefits, and the knowledge and skills needed to produce outputs. Findings, which articulate benefits, outputs, and skills, can be used by evaluation organizations to support advocacy and professional…

The issue of the perceived success of human services program evaluations is the specific focus of this paper. Five areas that affect the potential for producing effective program evaluation form a framework for discussing factors related to perceived success. The areas include inappropriate conceptualization of what an evaluation can accomplish,…