Evaluation has been expanding as an important discipline in Latin America, yet there are significant challenges regarding capacity development through educational and training initiatives in the region. This paper first analyzes the evolution and state of the field in terms of the teaching of, and training in evaluation in Latin America, with a…

This paper describes a framework for educating future evaluators and users of evaluation through community-engaged, experiential learning courses and offers practical guidance about how such a class can be structured. This approach is illustrated via a reflective case narrative describing how an introductory, undergraduate class at a mid-size,…

Evaluation professionals need to be nimble and innovative in their approaches in order to be relevant and provide useful evidence to decision-makers, stakeholders, and society in the crowded public policy landscape. In this article, we offer serious games as a method that can be employed by evaluators to address three persisting challenges in…

Traditional methods of evaluation are limited in their ability to answer key questions often of interest to process evaluators, such as heterogeneity in the ways individuals adopt new programs. In this article, we demonstrate how a statistical approach, Latent Class Analysis, can help improve the quality of process evaluations and illustrate its…

Targeting Outcomes of Programs (TOP) is a seven-step hierarchical programming model in which the program development and performance sides are mirror images of each other. It served as a framework to identify a simple method for targeting photographic events in nonformal education programs, indicating why, when, and how photographs would be useful…

Increasingly, staff members in community and public health programs and projects are required to undertake evaluation activities. There is, however, limited capacity for, and understanding of, evaluation within this workforce. Building the capability of individual workers and thereby contributing to the overall capacity among the community and…

As the evaluation profession has continued to grow and develop, there has been a corresponding concern about how to properly train future evaluation practitioners. Those who teach evaluation strive to develop training opportunities that create the appropriate balance of the practical, how-to knowledge of evaluation with the burgeoning theoretical…

Presents an integral, developmental approach to evaluating outcome evaluation training that links individual and collective attributes. Illustrates this framework with examples from Check Points, an outcome evaluation training program of Michigan State University and the United Way of Michigan. (SLD)

This is the first examination of exemplary evaluation under a new editorial approach, in which the authors are attempting not only to report how the evaluation was conducted and to explain the rationale for design and implementation but also to examine the conditions, events, or actions that might have contributed to its exemplary status. This…

Discusses teaching and training about evaluation with metaphors. Helping those who study evaluation perceive analogies and metaphors related to evaluation helps them understand truths about the rich diversity of evaluation. (SLD)

Introduces a new section for this journal devoted to teaching evaluation that intends to disseminate effective teaching strategies to the broad community of practicing evaluators. Articles for the planned section will focus on evaluation teaching and training in diverse environments. (SLD)

The field of program evaluation lacks interactive teaching tools. To address this pedagogical issue, the authors developed a collaborative learning technique called Program Evaluation: The Board Game. The authors present the game and its development in this practitioner-oriented article. The evaluation board game is an adaptable teaching tool…

Human service fields, and more specifically public health, are increasingly requiring evaluations to prove the worth of funded programs. Many public health practitioners, however, lack the required background and skills to conduct useful, appropriate evaluations. In the late 1990s, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created the…

Developing evaluation capacity in organizations is a complex and multifaceted task. This article outlines a framework for building evaluation capacity. The framework is based on four strategic methods for teaching evaluation: (a) using logic models for sound program planning, (b) providing one-on-one help, (c) facilitating small-team collaborative…

Describes a program evaluation model that was developed over three semesters of teaching an introductory graduate-level course in program evaluation. The framework uses a systems approach that emphasizes its sequenced methodology and the significant of monitoring work through feedback loops in an ongoing revision process. (Author/SLD)