SCHEDULE OVERVIEW ¨ WORKSHOP ¨ INDEX OF CONCURRENT SESSIONS ¨ KEYNOTES ¨ SESSIONS

¨ PRE-INSTITUTE WORKSHOP

Evaluation 101: An Overview for New Evaluation Practitioners

Note that this workshop is not included in standard Institute registration, and requires an additional payment, but may be registered for on the same form.

Level: Beginner
 
Description: This course will provide an introduction to program evaluation and evaluation terminology for Institute participants with little or no prior background in program evaluation. The teaching framework for the course will be the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) six-step Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health as well as the four sets of evaluation standards from the Joint Commission on Evaluation Standards. The course will touch on all six steps of the CDC Framework:

Step 1: Engage stakeholders.
Step 2: Describe the program.
Step 3: Focus the evaluation design.
Step 4: Gather credible evidence.
Step 5: Justify conclusions.
Step 6: Ensure use and share lessons learned.

We will emphasize the early steps, including identification and engagement of stakeholders, creation of logic models, and selecting/focusing evaluation questions. Several public health case studies will be used both as illustrations and as an opportunity for participants to apply the content of the course.

Audience: Attendees with little or no background in evaluation and working in any context although the examples used will be from public health.

Thomas Chapel, M.A., M.B.A., is a Senior Health Scientist in the Office of the Director, Office of Program Planning and Evaluation at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He is responsible for helping CDC programs build evaluation capacity by providing training and technical assistance on strategic planning and evaluation design; building networks on evaluation and planning across CDC; and providing a range of training and facilitation in strategic planning and evaluation design. Before joining CDC, Mr. Chapel was Vice-President of the Atlanta office of ORC Macro where he directed and managed projects in program evaluation, strategic planning, and evaluation design for public and non-profit organizations. He is a frequent presenter at national meetings and facilitated and serves on expert panels on a host of public health and evaluation topics. He is active in the local affiliate of the American Evaluation Association (AEA), currently as president and formerly as chair of the Professional Development Committee. Mr. Chapel holds a BA degree from Johns Hopkins University and MA in public policy and MBA degrees from the University of Minnesota.

Offered:

• Sunday, June 10, 9:00 - 4:00 (1 hour break for lunch within)

SCHEDULE OVERVIEW ¨ WORKSHOP ¨ INDEX OF CONCURRENT SESSIONS ¨ KEYNOTES ¨ SESSIONS

¨ INDEX OF CONCURRENT SESSIONS BY TIMESLOT

SCHEDULE OVERVIEW ¨ WORKSHOP ¨ INDEX OF CONCURRENT SESSIONS ¨ KEYNOTES ¨ SESSIONS

¨ KEYNOTE SESSION DESCRIPTIONS

What’s the Use?  Maximizing the Impact of Program Evaluation

Description: Understanding the history of evaluation use and influence can help evaluators take advantage of what the field has learned in the 35 years since Carol Weiss asked two heart-wrenching questions about the role of evaluation in decision making: “Is anybody there? Does anybody care?” By the 1990s, the field accepted a three-faceted concept of evaluation use with instrumental, conceptual, and political/persuasive/symbolic use as categories. Recent discussion has included two new types of use: process use, and imposed or carrot-and-stick use. More importantly, the new millennium has brought about a flurry of theoretical activity that has re-conceptualized the field’s understanding of its impact. What has emerged is an integrated understanding of evaluation’s consequences using the concept of “evaluation influence” as a unifying construct. Mark and Henry map out a logic model for evaluation, focusing solely on evaluation consequences related to the improvement of social conditions and seeking to identify the mechanisms through which evaluations lead to this ultimate goal along differing paths of influence. These ideas have direct implications for practicing evaluators, including the importance of being explicit about evaluative purposes, involving intended users and other stakeholders in evaluation decisions, and having a clear sense of an evaluator’s role in a given project.

Jean A. King, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Educational Policy and Administration at the University of Minnesota where she serves as the Director of Graduate Studies and Coordinator of the Evaluation Studies Program.  She holds an M.S. and Ph.D. from Cornell University and prior to her graduate study taught middle school English for a number of years.  In 1995, her work using participatory evaluation methods resulted in the Myrdal Award for Evaluation Practice from the American Evaluation Association, and in 1999, she was awarded the Association’s Robert Ingle Award for Extraordinary Service.  Professor King received the University of Minnesota, College of Education and Human Development’s Beck Award for Outstanding Instruction in 1999, the College’s 2002 Distinguished Teaching Award, and the 2005 Community Service Award.  She is the author of numerous articles and chapters and, with Laurie Stevahn, continues writing a book on interactive evaluation practice.

Offered as Keynote Address:

• Monday, June 11, 8:30 - 9:15 AM

Evaluation and the Public Good

Description:  In whose interests is evaluation conducted?  In what ways does and should evaluation serve the public interest?  Is an evaluation practice that serves the public good inherently democratic? Should evaluation aspire to democratic aims?  This presentation will take up these issues, with a focus on the inherent and inescapable political stances and value commitments of all evaluations and thus the equally inescapable responsibility to position our work in service of the public good.

Jennifer C. Greene received her doctorate in educational psychology from Stanford University in 1976 and has held academic appointments at the University of Rhode Island, Cornell University, and presently the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Her evaluation scholarship has broadly focused on probing the intersections of social science method with policy discourse and program decision-making, with the intent of making evaluation useful and socially responsible. Dr. Greene has concentrated specifically on advancing qualitative, mixed method, and democratic approaches to evaluation. She has published widely in journals and books on program evaluation, has held leadership positions in AERA and AEA, and was recently co-editor-in-chief of New Directions for Evaluation.

Offered as Keynote Address:

• Tuesday, June 12, 8:30 - 9:15 AM

The Current Climate for Public Program Evaluation

Description:  Dr. Newcomer will discuss the current environment and challenges for program evaluation and performance measurement in the government and the nonprofit sector in the U.S. She willidentify consequences of programmatic measurement on the behavior of: oversight officials, clients or consumers, and program staff, and focus on how choices are made regarding:

• selection of what/who to count;

• what counts; and 

• other dysfunctionalities in decision-makin