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Session Title: Internal Evaluation Capacity Building Through Critical Friends and Communities of Practice

Multipaper Session 463 to be held in Preston Room on Thursday, November 8, 5:15 PM to 6:00 PM

Sponsored by the Organizational Learning and Evaluation Capacity Building TIG

Chair(s):

Valerie payday loan  Janesick payday loan ,  University of South Florida,  vjanesic@tempest.coedu.usf.edu

Discussant(s):

Ellen payday loan  Taylor-Powell payday loan ,  University of Wisconsin,  ellen.taylor-powell@ces.uwex.edu

Developing a Collaborative Spirit: Learning Communities at Work Presenter(s): Candace payday loan  Lacey payday loan ,  Nova Southeastern University,  lacey@nova.edu Abstract: In any project evaluation, the evaluator has the opportunity to become a critical part of the project team. Being accepted as a critical friend is an important part of transforming the evaluation process into a learning experience. This presentation will explore the role of the evaluator in the development, implementation, and evaluation of a four year federally funded grant. The presentation will address how a positive working collaboration can create a relationship between the evaluator and project staff that results in the development of a true learning community. The evolution of this partnership and collaborative strategies will be traced through a discussion of the writing of the proposal, the selection of the project staff, evaluation instruments, preparation of federal reports, and the use of formative and summative evaluation findings.

Learning and Improving? Or Just Gathering Information? Presenter(s): Laura payday loan  Silverstein payday loan ,  New Futures,  lauras@newfutures.us Abstract: New Futures, a small nonprofit, used an internal Self Evaluation Team to learn how to learn from their evaluation. The organization, which provides services within low-income apartment complexes, has conducted both outcomes-based assessments and, last year, a quasi-experimental research study on their programs. These evaluation efforts satisfied external stakeholders and earned the organization a reputation as having a strong evaluation and an effective program. But staff members were not sufficiently confident in their results to use them to improve programs. So they built the infrastructure to ensure that the organization learns from its evaluation. They improved the current evaluation tools and added additional ones to assess impact and help staff be intentional about their programming. They examined the processes of conducting the evaluation and of analyzing the results. With very limited resources, the organization was able to go from one where they gathered information to one where they used it.