1. Evaluation Revisiting what it is... Who are Stakeholders and why do they matter? Dissemination – when, where and how?

2. Evaluation is An ongoing systematic collection of information on the purpose, process and outcomes of “ ______________________ “ Program evaluation improves practice Program evaluation is proactive. Do it now to improve your success Don’t wait for a stakeholder to ask for it Program evaluation involves careful planning and on-going information collection

3. Evaluation can be used to Identify a problem Create or select a program to address an issue Judge the effectiveness of a program or thing Make changes, improve the exisisting program or thing Provide accountability

4. Considerations (a few) Practicality Feasibility Ethics Accuracy Resource and time constraints Political, organizational, and personal contexts

5. Stakeholders Stakeholders are people: invested in program interested in program engaged in program activities have a stake in program success or failure Stakeholders “can”: improve program implementation increase support for program boost program credibility

6. Who are stakeholders??? It depends on what you are evaluating. However, given many of the ‘typical’ programs. Some examples include: Students Parents Administrators Staff Clients Community and business leaders Representatives of advocacy groups National and state agencies Critics Funders

7. Internal versus External Internal Stakeholders Program participants and staff External Stakeholders Funders, Community, Schools, Program Partners

8. Planning to Dissemination Keep those involved (yes, you) focused on the evaluation Prepare stakeholders for results Be sure evaluation is useful, feasible, ethical and accurate.

9. Preliminary results Provide to program staff and stakeholders to maintain their interest and help them see value in evaluation activities. Are there program or evaluation problems that can be addressed immediately? How comfortable are we with findings as they emerge? How should we plan to communicate findings to stakeholders?

10. Justification Use findings of program evaluation to show the benefits to stakeholders connected and beyond Make group presentations and consider 1-on-1 discussions to clarify outcomes and recommendations May need to educate stakeholders not only about the program but in general, about evaluation

11. Quality Communication Summarize program, goals, objectives and evaluation Present clear, succinct results Make recommendations for program AND discuss advantages and disadvantages Remove technical jargon Use neutral tone and visual aids

12. Evaluation Report Outline Section 1:(Executive) Summary Section 2: Purposes of Evaluation Section 3: Background Information Section 4: Description of the Evaluation Study & Design Section 5: Results Section 6: Discussion of Program and its Results Section 7: Conclusions & Recommendations