This guidance is for program and agency staff who have identified the need to develop a new data system or make major enhancements to an existing system. Key considerations are presented as questions to help guide staff through the initiation and planning process. The system initiation phase requires a broad team with the expertise and knowledge…

This article examines the concept of credible evidence in Extension evaluations with specific attention to the measures and measurement strategies used to collect and create data. Credibility depends on multiple factors, including data quality and methodological rigor, characteristics of the stakeholder audience, stakeholder beliefs about the…

People providing services to schools, teachers, and students want to know whether these services are effective. With that knowledge, a project director can expand services that work well and adjust implementation of activities that are not working as expected. When finding that an innovative strategy benefits students, a project director might…

Governments, organizations, and companies are generating copious amounts of data and analysis to support education decision-making around the world. While continued investments in data creation and management are necessary, the ultimate value of information is not in its "production," but its "use." Herein lies one of the…

This article presents discussion and recommendations on approaches to retrospectively evaluating development interventions in the long term through a systems lens. It is based on experiences from the implementation of an 18-month study to investigate the impact of development interventions on economic and social change over a 40-year period in the…

As educators are increasingly called on to use data to inform improvement initiatives (and are being held accountable for doing so), there is a corresponding need for program leaders to monitor progress. Program monitoring--the systematic and continual observation and recording of key program aspects--can provide leaders with realistic assessments…

The "Guidelines for the Transitional Education Plan Preparation" are the result of an extensive consultation process and the product of fruitful guidance and contributions from key partners active in the field of education in emergencies and protracted crises. The new global education agenda 2030 places strong emphasis on countries…

The purpose of this study was to identify the specific competencies needed to apply social marketing, a promising approach to behavior change, to Extension programming. A modified Delphi study was used to achieve group consensus among a panel of experts on the skills, characteristics, and knowledge needed to successfully apply this behavior change…

In 2017, the National Technical Assistance Center for the Education of Neglected or Delinquent Children and Youth (NDTAC) released its first in a series of professional development briefs that focus on the professional development needs and interests of Neglected or Delinquent (N or D) State coordinators, correctional educators, and providers of…

This report provides AISD staff with a guide to sustain project evaluation practices on ARRA IDEA projects after grant funding ends by enhancing staff capacity to include evaluation in planning, managing, and improving the projects and programs.

The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE), a unit within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), is responsible for advising the Assistant Secretary for Children and Families on increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of programs to improve the economic and social well-being of children and families. In collaboration…

This manual was designed for Catholic Relief Services staff who want to improve the health and nutrition component of maternal and child health programs. The methodology presented had already been used in two country programs in Africa, and the experiences in those program evaluations made this guide to participatory evaluation useful for other…

Relevant conceptual frameworks must guide data collection and analysis if data are to be useful to service program planners and administrators. Such frameworks are increasingly important in the systematic assessment of the total array of services in a planning region. This paper describes a two-dimensional classification matrix developed in…

An experimental program based on a study by the Department of Housing and Urban Development was activated to deliver services to urban residents via automated communications technology. Designed to contribute to improvement in the quality of life, the program of a Community Information and Services Center (CISC) included: outreach programs, i.e.,…

Arranged like an encyclopedia, this book, addressed to directors and sponsors of education/training programs, as well as evaluators and those studying to become evaluators, unifies and systematizes the field of evaluation by organizing its main concepts and techniques into one volume. Researched and documented articles, contributed by recognized…