Actionable Evaluation Basics

Avoid getting lost in indicators, measures, and analysis methods; use this guide to get clear, well-reasoned, insightful answers to your most important questions about quality and value. Great tips for reporting that is succinct and straight-to-the-point without falling into the trap of oversimplification. This easy-to-read, informative minibook provides an overview of the six elements essential for actionable evaluation, as covered in Dr. Jane Davidson's popular workshops on Actionable Evaluation: (1) a clear purpose for the evaluation; (2) the right stakeholder engagement strategy; (3) important, big picture evaluation questions to guide the whole evaluation; (4) well-reasoned answers to the big picture questions; (5) succinct, straight to the point reporting that doesn't get lost in the details; and (6) answers and insights that are actionable.

Evaluation Methodology Basics introduces evaluation by focusing on the main kinds of 'big picture' questions that evaluations usually need to answer, and how the nature of such questions are linked to evaluation methodology choices. The author: shows how to identify the right criteria for your evaluation; discusses how to objectively figure out which criteria are more important than the others; and, delves into how to combine a mix of qualitative and quantitative data with 'relevant values' (such as needs) to draw explicitly evaluative conclusions.

Your training: Do they love it or live it? How do training professionals show the impact their programs are making? Positive feedback only goes so far in confirming success. And entertainment value, while important, isn't the truest measure of your effectiveness. To find out whether your participants are applying what they’ve learned on the job, you need a good evaluation strategy—one that connects evaluation to performance, program design, and bottom-line value. Each chapter of Evaluation Basics focuses on a critical aspect of developing and implementing an evaluation plan for a face-to-face or virtual training program. You’ll not only learn about the methods and instruments you can use to determine the value of your program, but you’ll also get help effectively communicating results. Part of ATD’s Training Basics series, the second edition of Evaluation Basics offers practical examples, worksheets, and new case studies to further your understanding.

Teacher evaluation systems are being overhauled by states and districts across the United States. And, while intentions are admirable, the result for many new systems is that goodoften excellentteachers are lost in the process. In the end, students are the losers. In her new book, Linda Darling-Hammond makes a compelling case for a research-based approach to teacher evaluation that supports collaborative models of teacher planning and learning. She outlines the most current research informing evaluation of teaching practice that incorporates evidence of what teachers do and what their students learn. In addition, she examines the harmful consequences of using any single student test as a basis for evaluating individual teachers. Finally, Darling-Hammond offers a vision of teacher evaluation as part of a teaching and learning system that supports continuous improvement, both for individual teachers and for the profession as a whole.

Addressing one of the most important and contentious issues challenging applied research and evaluation practice today—what constitutes credible and actionable evidence?—this volume offers a balanced and current context in which to analyze the long-debated quantitative-qualitative paradigms. In the Second Edition, the contributors, a veritable “who’s who” in evaluation, discuss the diversity and changing nature of credible and actionable evidence; offer authoritative guidance about using credible and actionable evidence; explain how to use it to provide rigorous and influential evaluations; and include lessons from their own applied research and evaluation to suggest ways to address the key issues and challenges. Reflecting the latest developments in the field and covering both experimental and non-experimental methods, the new edition includes revised and updated chapters, summaries of strengths and weaknesses across varied approaches, and contains diverse definitions of evidence. Also included are two new chapters on assessing credibility and synthesizing evidence for policy makers. This is a valuable resource for students and others interested in how to best study and evaluate programs, policies, organizations, and other initiatives designed to improve aspects of the human condition and societal well-being.

A step-by-step guide through the process of programme evaluation which takes into account all the evaluator's roles -- not just as researcher, but as negotiator, administrator and organizer, writer, and communicator. Kosekoff and Fink offer some of the techniques that have proven useful in their own professional evaluation practice. They show how to appraise a programme's merit, and provide information about its goals, expectations, outcomes, impact and costs.

In this valuable resource, well-known scholars present a detailed understanding of contemporary theories and practices in the fields of measurement, assessment, and evaluation, with guidance on how to apply these ideas for the benefit of students and institutions. Bringing together terminology, analytical perspectives, and methodological advances, this second edition facilitates informed decision-making while connecting the latest thinking in these methodological areas with actual practice in higher education. This research handbook provides higher education administrators, student affairs personnel, institutional researchers, and faculty with an integrated volume of theory, method, and application.

Introduction to Theory-Driven Program Evaluation provides a clear guide for practicing evaluation science, and numerous examples of how these evaluations actually unfold in contemporary practice. A special emphasis is placed how to conduct theory-driven program evaluations that are culturally responsive and strengths-focused. In this thoroughly revised new edition, author Stewart I. Donaldson provides a state-of-the art treatment of the basics of conducting theory-driven program evaluations. Each case follows a three-step model: developing program impact theory; formulating and prioritizing evaluation questions; and answering evaluation questions. The initial chapters discuss the evolution and popularity of theory-driven program evaluation, as well as step-by-step guide for culturally responsive and strengths-focused applications. Succeeding chapters provide actual cases and discuss the practical implications of theory-driven evaluation science. Reflections, challenges, and lessons learned across numerous cases from practices are discussed. The volume is of significant value to practicing evaluators, professors of introductory evaluation courses and their students, advanced undergraduate and graduate students, and serves as a text or a supplementary text for a wide range of evaluation and applied research courses. It is also of great interest to those interested in the connections between work and health, well-being, career development, human service organizations, and organizational improvement and effectiveness.

An innovative approach to program evaluation that takes readers behind the scenes of real evaluations and the decisions the evaluators made.

This practical, user-friendly resource helps students successfully complete an evaluation capstone: a dissertation, thesis, or culminating project where a student conducts an evaluation as their capstone experience. Authors Tamara M. Walser and Michael S. Trevisan present a framework to support students and faculty in maximizing student development of evaluator competencies, addressing standards of the evaluation profession, and contributing to programs and disciplinary knowledge. Their framework, and this book, is organized by six fundamentals of evaluation practice: quality; stakeholders; understanding the program; values; approaches; and maximizing evaluation use. Throughout the book they use the metaphor of the journey to depict the processes and activities a student will experience as they navigate an evaluation capstone and the six fundamentals of evaluation practice. In pursuit of a completed capstone, students grow professionally and personally, and will be in a different place when they reach the destination and the capstone journey is complete.