Presentation at The Conference for Family Literacy Louisville, Kentucky By Apter & O’Connor Associates April 2013 Evaluating Our Coalition: Are We Making an Impact?

Why a Coalition?

Evaluation can guide the change process Evaluation can monitor the health of your coalition Evaluation can “tell your story” Evaluation can “dig deeper” Evaluation can measure your success and answer the “so what” questions Why Evaluate?

Effectiveness Why Evaluate? Provide Accountability to Community, Funders & Stakeholders Effectiveness Quality Efficiency Effectiveness

Step 1: Defining YOUR Coalition Cooperative Group Short term goals/tasks Linkages may be formalized but still advisory Network Dialogue Informal linkages Information exchange

Collaborative Long-term commitment Formal agreements Shared leadership and decision making Shared community-wide indicators of success Partnership Share/merge resources Joint planning but individualized authority Frequent communication Common issue

SO WHAT!! The Impact of Your Coalition

Step 2: Meeting Evaluation Challenges 1.Lack of clarity about the expected outcomes from the coalition: What to evaluate 2.Coalitions take time to build 3.Coalitions are not static 4.Measurement: Attribution vs. Contribution (who gets “credit”)

Challenge #1: Lack of Clarity about Expected Outcomes

Some Solutions Reflect back to your logic model: reasonable, feasible, focused outcomes Clarity about what the coalition will bring to the community that individual programs cannot. The evaluation must match the level of anticipated outcome

Level of Impact

Individuals Change in behaviors, attitudes, skills

Agencies/Organizations Change in behaviors, attitudes, knowledge and skills Change number and type services provided Change in policies, procedures Leadership development

Systems Change in behaviors, attitudes, knowledge and skills Increase in coordination/collaboration/cohesion within or across systems Change in service delivery Joint decision making

Community More resources/services for the community Change in legislation, regulation, policy Heightened community awareness/civic action Demonstrated change in social, economic, environmental conditions

Challenge #2: Coalitions Take Time to Build

Clarify the “development phase” of your coalition and the key tasks that need to be accomplished That will lead you to appropriate questions and important data to collect Some Solutions

Evaluating the right thing at the right time! Planning and forming Why do we need this collaboration? Who should be involved? Do we have a common vision? Formative Evaluation: --Readiness and capacity “Developmental Evaluation”: Evaluating the Right Thing at the Right Time…

Developing Are we on track? Is our coalition meeting the needs of members? Are we achieving early outcomes? Process Evaluation: -- Beginning to implement Evaluating the Right Thing at the Right Time

Maturing and Sustaining What have we accomplished? What are the benefits for our coalition and for whom? What is the value of our effort? Outcome/summative evaluation -- Accountability Evaluating the Right Thing at the Right Time

Challenge #3: Service Systems and Communities Are Not Static

Revisit your logic model: – Are the new strategies are still in line with your vision – Does the coalition membership still include the “right” stakeholders Some Solutions

Challenge #4: Attribution vs. Contribution

How do we insure “self interest” of member agencies/organizations are met? How do we distinguish outcomes of the coalition vs. outcomes by programs funded by the coalition vs. other contextual factors?

Do a good job of collecting the right data – Reflects the coalition expected level of impact – Reflects the coalition developmental stage Critical importance of process to outcome: continue to measure perception of members Shared measurement systems Some Solutions

Not everything that counts can be counted!

Phases of Shared Measurement System STEP I Design STEP 2 Develop STEP 3 Deploy Agree on system and relation to logic model Review current state of knowledge/data Agree on governance structure Identify approach, metrics, confidentiality, etc. Develop platform and tools Test and refine platform/tools Staff for data management and synthesis Learning forums Ongoing support Review, refine, improve, ongoing evaluation of usability and impact Source: FSG Analysis, www.fsg.org

The COMET® System

Clarity among organizations about WHY you are collecting this data and how it will be used Getting organizations to agree on a set of shared indicators that reflect their work Silo nature and reporting requirements of funders And…………. Cautions….

Measure infrastructure, functioning and procedures of the coalition Measure indicators of extent of implementation Measure change and realization of vision Evaluation Types are All Related….

SURVEYS: member benefits, perceptions of stakeholders, informants, community INTERVIEWS/FOCUS GROUPS stakeholders, beneficiaries, community members OBSERVATIONS: site visits, meetings RECORDS, DOCUMENT REVIEW CASE STUDIES: policy analysis, beneficiaries, build a story of the coalition’s work and impact INDICATORS: statistical analysis for significance, trend data, change in targets, cost-benefits Tools of the Trade

Collect information from SEVERAL SOURCES (community residents at large, targeted clientele, elected officials) Collect information using SEVERAL METHODS (survey, focus group and site observations for perceptions) Consider OUTSIDE EVALUATORS (to add credibility, expertise, objectivity) Collect both QUANTITATIVE (the numbers) and QUALITATIVE(the story) data USE your findings Tools of the Trade

Pre-Conditions Urgency for change Adequate financial resources Influential champions Pre-Conditions Urgency for change Adequate financial resources Influential champions Conditions for having impact A common agenda (vision) Continuous communication A shared measurement system with a “short list” of indicators Mutually reinforcing activities (relating to vision A centralized backbone structure Conditions for having impact A common agenda (vision) Continuous communication A shared measurement system with a “short list” of indicators Mutually reinforcing activities (relating to vision A centralized backbone structure Successful Coalitions Kania and Kramer, Collective Impact,

1.Selection of a core set of community outcome indicators by the literacy coalition 2.Provide training and technical assistance in performance measurement 3.Assist community literacy programs to track and use their own outcomes 4.Provide support for community-wide outcome data collection 5.Provide support for analysis of the outcome information. Adapted by Apter & O’Connor from National Institute for Literacy, Guide to Performance Management for Community Literacy Coalitions, Washington, DC Contributions of a Literacy Coalition

6.Use the findings to help attract funding 7.Use the findings to identify and report community literacy program needs and literacy condition 8.Use the findings to help identify and disseminate successful (“best”) practices in your community and elsewhere 9.USE THE FINDINGS TO CELEBRATE GOOD LITERACY OUTCOMES Adapted by Apter & O’Connor from National Institute for Literacy, Guide to Performance Management for Community Literacy Coalitions, Washington, DC Contributions of Evaluation

For more information… Literacy Powerline Apter & O’Connor Associates