EVALUATION FOR LEARNING

News for an Evaluating Community  Spring 1998


Save the Date

Question and Answer session on evaluation and outcome measurement will convene on Friday, June 12, 8-10 a.m. in the Greater Kalamazoo United Way Board Room (709 S. Westnedge Avenue). Any community agency is welcome, and there is no charge. The seminar will be informal and interactive, giving us a chance to learn from each other’s experiences. Participation will be limited to the first 40 persons who call to reserve a seat. Call Patricia Hamilton at (616)343-2524.

Bring your questions, as well as ideas for future quarterly seminars.
Asking good questions

Headcounts vs. Changed Lives - Outcome Data Enhance Community Services

Outcome information answers questions about how people benefit from the programs in which they participate. It rounds out the data most often collected about a program - the number of people served, types of activities offered, number of hours of service provided, and so forth.
Collecting and sharing useful information

There are numbers and there are numbers. The headcounts and hours of service often measured provide valid, important information about the nature and scope of a program. They represent the program’s outputs. Outputs are different from outcomes. Outcomes concern changes in people’s knowledge, skills, attitudes, values, behavior, condition, or status. Outcome data demonstrate the effects of the activities and hours of service provided.
How does outcome information enhance community services?

Outcome information answers questions about how people benefit from the programs in which they participate. Program staff can use outcome data to spot problems and remedy them. Agencies have an opportunity to market and plan based on tangible evidence of change. For members of the community, outcome data can help us track, make decisions about, and improve our collective quality of life.

  

Using the information for improvement and accountability

Information about how participants change has always been seen as important, but very difficult to capture. Partners in the Greater Kalamazoo Evaluation Project are promoting identification of outcomes and outcome measurement. Outcome measures sometimes yield numbers, like change on a life functioning scale, but also may yield stories, pictures, or interviews with program participants. Non-numerical measures are just as important and often more valid ways of measuring outcomes.
Continuing to repeat the cycle

If you have creative outcome measures you would like to share with the rest of the community, please call Denise Hartsough at 343-2524. We would like to include your innovations and successes in a future newsletter.


Some Good Questions (from Steven E. Mayer, Rainbow Research, Inc.)

Evaluation is a process of asking good questions:

  • Ask the questions you’d like to be asked, plus the hard ones.
Evaluation is a means of organizational learning:
  • Ask, "What can we do better now than we could do one year ago?"
  • Ask, "What must we do better to achieve better results?"
  • Ask, "What did we learn from this past month?"
Evaluation is an essential component of effective decision-making:
  • Ask, "What does our recent experience tell us regarding needed improvements?"
  • Ask, "How can we fix the two weakest parts of our program?"
  • Ask, "How can we help our partners avoid the common mistakes of this business?"
Evaluation is the responsibility of everyone:
  • Ask clients about the strengths/weaknesses of your program.
  • Ask your funding partner, "How will you judge our success?"
  • What witnesses would you call if you were accused in court of running a trivial program?

    • Fifteen heads are better than one.
 

TIPS & TOOLS 
Hospice of Southwest Michigan awards coffee mugs to clients, staff, volunteers, board members, or others who recommend a change that leads to better results.  This is called the MUG Program (for “Make Us Great!”).

 
Noteworthy resources
  • Looking for practical evaluation materials? The Greater Kalamazoo United Way is beginning to build a resource library of outcome measures for use by community agencies. It has copies of substance abuse prevention outcome resource materials called Prevention Plus II and Prevention Plus III, as well as outcomes measures for health care interventions and measures of attitudes.
    Can you add any instruments to this library? Call Patricia Hamilton at 343-2524, if you would like to schedule time to review these resources.
 Evaluation for learning is:
  • Everyone’s  responsibility
  • Continually asking good questions, getting answers, and taking action based on those answers
  • Integrated into the day-to-day operations of the organization
  • A developmental process
  • Collaborative and dependent on information sharing
  • Time well spent
  • Going to ensure the organization’s health and viability in the long run in a changing environment

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Greater Kalamazoo Evaluation Project
c/o Greater Kalamazoo United Way
709 S. Westnedge Avenue
Kalamazoo, MI 49007-5099