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Session Title: Striving for Quality During Organizational Change: Three Aspects of Responsible Evaluation
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Multipaper Session 865 to be held in Lone Star D on Saturday, Nov 13, 2:50 PM to 4:20 PM
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Sponsored by the Non-profit and Foundations Evaluation TIG
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| Chair(s): |
| Judy Lee,
Independent Consultant, judymlee@msn.com
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| Discussant(s): |
| Christian Connell,
Yale University, christian.connell@yale.edu
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Ensuring Quality: Learning While Doing
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| Presenter(s):
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| Benjamin Kerman, Annie E Casey Foundation, bkerman@aecf.org
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| Abstract:
Learning while doing, an approach to ongoing reflective organizational development, involves the proverbial ‘plane building aloft.’ In 2004, Casey Family Services set out ambitiously to transform itself midstream from a successful provider of long-term foster care to an agency that made sure every child would have a permanent family and exit foster care as soon as safely possible. With new organizational goals and a commitment to pilot and refine a set of leading edge permanency promoting practices, the agency adopted the ‘learn while doing’ approach. A critical component of this approach was the linking of management and evaluators in a close collaboration that would help direct the organizational change plan and refine the emergent practice model. This paper summarizes insights gained during the initial five year implementation evaluation, discussing evaluation ‘quality assurance’ when practice models, organizational structures, service populations and information needs were all subject to change.
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