|
Session Title: Using Data Dashboards in Formative Evaluations
|
|
Panel Session 960 to be held in Avila B on Saturday, Nov 5, 2:20 PM to 3:50 PM
|
|
Sponsored by the Data Visualization and Reporting TIG
|
| Chair(s): |
| Meridith Polin, Public/Private Ventures, mpolin@ppv.org
|
| Abstract:
An ongoing challenge for evaluators is finding ways to be responsive to stakeholders making day-to-day decisions about program operations. Data dashboards are one tool available to establish a "utilization-focused" approach to working with program stakeholders, while simultaneously providing evaluators an opportunity to check program data quality and review intermediate outcomes. Successful data dashboard use, however, depends upon both good design principals and feedback processes that work within the context of the programs being implemented.
Participants will leave this session with 1) a solid grounding in data dashboard design principles, including evolving examples of dashboards refined over the course of several months; 2) specific examples and comparisons of dashboards used in three different sites (cities) implementing the national Elev8 initiative, including printed documents and an interactive web-based design and; 3) an understanding of specific challenges to using data dashboards with program administrators and ways to overcome those challenges.
|
|
Developing Dashboards That Have Local and National Relevance for a Multi-city Initiative
|
| Meridith Polin, Public/Private Ventures, mpolin@ppv.org
|
|
Public/Private Ventures coordinates the national evaluation of Elev8. As part of this work, P/PV is responsible for creating monthly reports that describe utilization across the primary pillars of Elev8: school-based health centers, extended-day learning programs, and family support programs. P/PV developed local dashboards to inform the work at the site level as well as a national dashboard for additional stakeholders including policymakers and funders. The dashboards are also used to assess quality and completion of data. As P/PV's work with the sites winds down, we will work with them to sustain data collection and the utilization of the Elev8 dashboards. This presentation will focus on how the dashboards were developed with the varying needs of stakeholders in mind, how P/PV developed both local and national indicators, and what the sustainability plans for sites are.
|
|
|
Using School-level Dashboards for Continuous Improvement in an Integrated Services Initiative
|
| Nathan Hess, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, nhess@chapinhall.org
|
|
In an integrated service delivery model, programs work together to serve the needs of a particular population. In the case of Elev8, three to four primary partners work within in a school building to support student success. Dashboards hold particular value for these staff to understand where their work intersects and what the impacts of their collective efforts are. In this presentation, Chapin Hall, the local evaluator for Elev8 Chicago, will describe how we use school-level dashboards to ignite conversations about service delivery, continuous improvement efforts, and impacts. We will discuss the Elev8 'feedback loop', the opportunities and challenges of our approach, and how the dashboards have evolved over time.
| |
|
Data Visualization on Demand: Using an Online Dashboard to Provide Access and Information to Stakeholders
|
| Taj Carson, Carson Research Consulting Inc, taj@carsonresearch.com
|
|
Carson Research Consulting is the local evaluation team for Elev8, project designed to help middle school students make a successful transition to high school. As part of our evaluation, we collect information using an online database where program participation data is stored, and health partners and the Baltimore City Public Schools provide us with data on health services received, school attendance, and academic data. In order to make the most of these data, we used Incite, a powerful dashboard and data visualization tool. With Incite, stakeholders always have access to the dashboard and can see the patterns and relationships that they need to know about day to day. Incite allows the evaluation team, program staff and stakeholders to slice and dice the information available, and facilitated more informed conversation about the meaning of the data we are seeing month to month.
| |