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Program Evaluation

Given that healthy marriage programs are relatively new in the social services field program evaluation is important. Evaluations tell you how well your program is doing in meeting your goals. Capturing information on who you are serving, their expectations and how well you are doing will support your ability to manage and evaluate your program.

Program evaluation allows you to learn such things as:

• Are you serving your target population?
• What are the demographics, characteristics, etc., of your participants?
• Do your participants attend all of your classes and graduate or do you experience participation drop-off?
• Do participants like your class?
• Do they report any changes in their attitudes or opinions concerning marriage?
• Did they learn the skills and concepts you were teaching?
• Do they intend to change their behavior as a result of participating in your class?

Program evaluation will allow you to identify what's working and what's not. It will also help you determine what's effective, and what needs to be corrected.

There is a range of ways to evaluate your program. If you have the financial resources, you can hire an expert from a research firm or university to conduct a very sophisticated evaluation. If your resources are limited, you can use some simple tools, forms, and methods to evaluate the activities and effectiveness of your program.

This page will detail some basic steps and walk you through how to conduct an evaluation (e.g., choosing an evaluation model, developing a data collection plan, designing surveys, administering surveys, and collecting and analyzing data), identify some things you need to consider to make sure your evaluation goes smoothly, and help you to integrate the evaluation seamlessly into your program activities so that your clients aren't burdened by the evaluation efforts.

• Evaluation Toolkit and Logic Model Builder - As a service of the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Child Welfare Information Gateway, provides access to information and resources to help protect children and strengthen families.
• Center for Program Evaluation - Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) online evaluation tools for state and local agencies for planning and implementing program evaluations and for developing program performance measures.
• Elements to Build Capacity for Evaluation and Accountability : Discussion Guide - National Child Care Information Center. This document identifies six elements that appear necessary, according to the research, for building capacity for evaluation and accountability. Questions to prompt discussion and reflection among the planning/stakeholder group are followed by suggested strategies to address each element.