1. Chapter 1 Toward Accountability

2. The Faces of Accountability Professional Accountability.Service Delivery Accountability.Coverage Accountability.Cultural Accountability.Fiscal Accountability.Legal Accountability.

3. Stakeholders have an interest in the program The Council on Social Work Education The National Association of Social Workers Policy makers Funders General public Administrators and managers Social work practitioners Clients

4. Evaluation and Program Improvement Builds knowledge base Provides reliable guidance for practice Provides feedback for program improvement

5. Characteristic of Programs Relevant contexts include Community Political and fiscal environments Social environment There are many ways to view a program; all involve an environmental context Programs exist in their own environments

6. Evaluation Questions There are many questions that could be asked about any program The various stakeholder groups can all be sources of questions It is desirable to have a few well- focused questions guiding an evaluation process

7. Focusing Evaluation What data are needed to respond to questions about accountability? What data are needed to monitor program performance? What data are needed to make the decisions you need to make

8. What is Evaluation? The planned and systematic collection of data to formally assess programs In terms of their rationale, objectives attainment, effects, impacts And operational effectiveness

9. Purpose of Evaluation To generate information to respond to demands for accountability To monitor performance To obtain information about program effectiveness