At a basic level, program evaluation is a method of inquiry.
Program evaluation is a process by which leaders can answer questions, identify needs, uncover successes, and improve programs. It is a systematic method of collecting information, analyzing data, interpreting findings, and making decisions. Program evaluation is best applied as a cycle, using the process to make incremental improvements that over time lead to bigger success.
Afterschool program evaluation can positively influence results by helping educators and program leaders really understand what is going on in their program and what may be happening as a result. Simply put, evaluation is a method of learning.
And all of that sounds kind of boring.
Except that its not.
Maybe I’m a data geek. But I find it fascinating that we can look at all the different pieces of a program, bring together a variety of data, compile the details, collect feedback from participants and stakeholders, and put it all together to tell the story of a program.
Program data can paint a picture of how an innovative afterschool program and its creative and caring staff engaged with students in need, helped them overcome obstacles, and supported them in developing new skills and building knowledge.
These stories help your staff, community, partners, and funders recognize your program’s value. They help stakeholders make a human connection. This connection compels your community and funders to support you.
How Afterschool Program Evaluation Can Help You
- Fulfill reporting and accountability requirements
- Identify what is working and what is not
- Identify needs, and connect needs to appropriate interventions
- Ensure implementation with fidelity or identify where intervention went wrong
- Compile evidence for contract compliance
- Monitor progress toward goals
- Identify program and participant successes
- Use program outcomes to seek new funding, build stakeholder support
- Share findings with staff, community, and partners
- Improve program operations, efficiency, and results through informed decision making
- Improve instruction and direct services to students and their families
- Help staff know what they need to do and what might work best
Evaluation as a Showcase
One of the biggest advantages of program evaluation is that it helps you identify the successes your program or your students are experiencing, and then back up those successes with data and evidence.
Which do you think is more compelling?
A: Our students improved their reading skills!
OR
B: More than 80% of our students improved their reading assessment score by two performance levels!
But evaluation is more than just data analysis. It involves taking that data analysis and putting it into context, interpreting the results in light of goals and objectives, comparing it to past practice or competitors, and making recommendations for next steps. Evaluation findings can be used to produce comprehensive reports, easy-to-understand infographics, and highlights for website content, newsletters, presentations, and more.
An evaluation can help the community, parents, and partners see the program as valuable. Something to be supported.
On the flipside, it can help you pinpoint what’s not working, or where you’re not succeeding as expected, and do something about it, rather than taking a trial-and-error approach. A colleague of mine relies on evaluation to show her, “the good, the bad, and the ugly,” so she knows exactly where to focus her efforts.
Work Smarter, Not Harder
As a wearer of many hats personally, I see evaluation and informed decision making as crucial to working smarter, not harder. Think about it…
You’re probably already collecting data. You might as well learn something from it.
You probably have to report to your funders and partners. You should know what you’re really telling them and use it to your advantage.
There are probably multiple tasks (and people) competing for your attention. You need to streamline and improve efficiency, for your own sake and your program’s.
There are successes hidden in your program. Don’t you want to know what they are?
Whether for outreach, recruitment, grant development, or strategic planning, program evaluation can provide the content and evidence for a variety of other processes. Evaluation can serve many masters. This ultimately saves you time and money.
In my experience, many afterschool leaders only have a faint idea what kind of results their program produces. But they are so busy working in their programs and putting out the daily fires that they don’t have the time to sit down, analyze data, make some comparisons and interpretations, chart the results, produce reports, communicate findings, and make recommendations on what to do next.
They are just trying to serve students.
But they could be better serving their students.
If you’re interested in learning how program evaluation could help you, I’d love to hear from you. Please reach out: leslie@northofthepresent.com.
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