| Session Title: Improving the Quality of Analysis, Interpretation, and Reporting of Program Outcomes Through a Measurement, Evaluation, and Statistics Training Course |
| Demonstration Session 601 to be held in PRESIDIO B on Friday, Nov 12, 1:40 PM to 3:10 PM |
| Sponsored by the Organizational Learning and Evaluation Capacity Building TIG |
| Presenter(s): |
| Yvonne Watson, United States Environmental Protection Agency, watson.yvonne@epa.gov |
| Tracy Dyke-Redmond, Industrial Economics Inc, tdr@indecon.com |
| Terell Lasane, United States Environmental Protection Agency, lasane.terell@epa.gov |
| Abstract: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s Evaluation Support Division has designed a new training course to help program staff use statistically valid approaches to demonstrate program outcomes. The course responds to critiques from OMB and others regarding the unintentional but inappropriate use of non-representative program data to draw conclusions about program outcomes. The new course, Using Statistical Approaches to Support Performance Measurement and Evaluation, is designed to introduce Agency staff with little to no knowledge of program evaluation and inferential statistics to basic concepts and techniques. Course participants will learn how performance measurement, program evaluation and inferential statistics can be combined to strengthen the quality of their analysis, interpretation, and reporting of program outcomes. This demonstration will walk conference participants through the course materials, highlighting aspects of the training that were successful and unsuccessful in EPA's organizational context. |