Assignment: Program Evaluation Plan

Program evaluation is an essential practice in human services organizations that provides a systematic and scientific approach for decision-making and program intervention. This process ensures that agencies perform effectively by being outcome-oriented and accountable. Since human services are often made up of many elements with complex relationships and dynamics, an evaluator needs to engage in collaborative reflection with key stakeholders, be grounded in people's experiences, and use data to ask good questions.
For this assignment, build upon the needs assessment conducted in M3 Assignment 2 RA 1 and design a program evaluation plan using appropriate evaluation frameworks discussed in the earlier modules.

Tasks:

Using at least 3-5 scholarly resources from the professional literature, research program evaluation. The literature may include the Argosy University online library resources, relevant textbooks, peer-reviewed journal articles, and websites created by professional organizations, agencies, or institutions (.edu, .org, or .gov).

Create a 10- to 12-page evaluation plan, including the following:

• Program's Context: Identify the setting (including mission and objectives of the program), target population, and environmental influences within which the program operates.

• Purpose of Evaluation: State the purpose of your evaluation. Having a clear purpose prevents hasty decisions in how an evaluation should be conducted. It could be for introducing a new approach to practice, to change an existing one, or to evaluate the effect of existing program activities.

• Expected Effects: Describe the desired outcomes (short- and long-term ones) for the program to be successful.

• Stakeholders: Identify all the stakeholders who would need to be engaged in the evaluation.

• Design of Framework: Choose an evaluation framework that will influence what type of resources will be used as evidence, how that evidence will be gathered and analyzed, and what kind of claims can be made.

• Resources (What Is the Required Data?): Determine criteria for effectiveness of the program and the data that would need to be collected to meet the selected criteria.

• Selection of Methods (How Can We Get It?): Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different data-gathering techniques and information analysis approaches to ensure quality in the evidence gathered.

• Findings (What Does the Data Mean?): Highlight important evaluation findings, including effective strategies to interpret, and present results and recommendations for the program to the stakeholders.

• Dissemination of the Findings: Select appropriate communication strategies and develop a communication plan using appropriate media and technology to inform the stakeholders.

• Plan for Follow Up for Ongoing Improvement (What Are We Going to Do Now?): Determine how the results will be implemented and monitored.