Evaluation Matters: Getting the Information You Need from Your Evaluation

Susan P. Giancola
January 1, 2014

This guide is written for educators. The primary intended audience is state- and district-level educators (e.g., curriculum supervisors, district office personnel, and state-level administrators). Teachers, school administrators, and board members also may find the guide useful. It is intended to help you build evaluation into the programs and projects you use in your classrooms, schools, districts, and state. This guide will also provide a foundation in understanding how to be an informed, active partner with an evaluator to make sure that evaluation provides the information you need to improve the success of your program, as well as to make decisions about whether to continue, expand, or discontinue a program. No previous evaluation knowledge is needed to understand the material presented. However, this guide may also be useful for experienced evaluators who want to learn more about how to incorporate theory-based evaluation methods into their programs and projects.

Keywords: education, evaluation, program planning, educational program design, program evaluation and decision-making, theory-based evaluation methods

 

 

Susan P. Giancola, Sue Giancola