Program and design evaluation process

What they hold in common is this—they are concrete plans of action implemented by organizations with the intention to make the world a better place.

It is the process that organizations use to develop a program. Ideally, the process is collaborative, iterative, and tentative—stakeholders work together to repeat, review, and refine a program until they believe it will consistently achieve its purpose. A program design is also the plan of action that results from that process.

Ideally, the plan is developed to the point that others can implement the program in the same way and consistently achieve its purpose. The more energy, creativity, and hard work that goes into program design, the greater the chances that a program will succeed. Program evaluation is an organized effort to understand how effective a program is and how it can be made more effective. It can be undertaken in a formative manner that supports the program design processes.

Or it can be undertaken in a summative manner that measures the effectiveness of a design as implemented in a given context. Typically, program evaluation shifts from formative to summative, and from informal to rigorous, as the program design process advances. Thanks for this blog! I work for a non profit organization and we are about to take inventory on our overall program effectiveness. Some people call one-off efforts projects and ongoing efforts programs.

Others use the two words to mean the same thing. Still others use program to mean the large-scale efforts of governments and projects to be local implementations of those larger programs.

Very confusing. My definition is broad in an effort to avoid that confusion. Perhaps it is unavoidable? You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Contact Us. Popular Tools. What is program evaluation? What types of program evaluations are there?

EPA has used program evaluation to: Support new and innovative approaches and emerging practices Identify opportunities to improve efficiency and effectiness Continuously improve existing programs Subsequently, improve human health and the environment What Types of Program Evaluations are there?

Program Evaluation Program evaluations can assess the performance of a program at all stages of a program's development. Design Evaluation A design evaluation is conducted early in the planning stages or implementation of a program. Process Evaluation A process evaluation assesses whether a program or process is implemented as designed or operating as intended and identifies opportunities for improvement.

Outcome Evaluations Outcome evaluations examine the results of a program intended or unintended to determine the reasons why there are differences between the outcomes and the program's stated goals and objectives e. Impact Evaluation An impact evaluation is a subset of an outcome evaluation. Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation Cost-effectiveness evaluations identify program benefits, outputs or outcomes and compare them with the internal and external costs of the program.

What is performance measurement? How do we determine good measures? How is performance measurement different from program evaluation? We strive to meet three key criteria in our measurement work: Is it meaningful? Measurement should be consistent and comparable to help sustain learning.

Is it credible? Is it practical? Contact Us to ask a question, provide feedback, or report a problem. Using the readings for the week, the South University Online Library, and the Internet for research, select scholarly references on three public health evaluation programs. You will use these references to support your responses.

Be sure to review public health programs in your state and include at least one program that addresses the health issue or health disease that you selected as your main theme or topic throughout the course. Use the following public health program matrix guide to analyze and interpret the three programs you selected.

Click here to download the Matrix Guide. You will need to review, analyze, and interpret each program and use the matrix guide to address the following components:. State the title of the public health program evaluation and its author. List the objectives and goals. Explain the purpose of the program summarize.

Describe the method and research data collection process if applicable.