Resources for Evaluation Planning

Image credit: Teresa Robinson via Flickr

THANK YOU for participating in It’s Not the Plan, It’s the Planning: Strategies for Evaluation Plans and Planning at the American Evaluation Association Summer Evaluation Institute.

Want to check out a sample of the course slide deck and handout?

It’s not the plan 2021 handout…2021

Haven’t taken the course? Contact me to bring the course to you!

Here are resources specific to evaluation planning, many of which I mention during the course:

Question Banks for Evaluation Planning:

Sheila’s Evaluation Planning Question Bank

For planning the evaluation project itself

Sheila’s Evaluation Questions Bank

For catalyzing ideas for developing program evaluation questions

Book:

A Practical Guide to Program Evaluation Planning

Free Guides:

Check out this great collection of evaluation quick reference guides from EvaluATE

Afterschool 101: How to Evaluate an Expanded Learning Program

EvaluATE (Evaluation Resource Center for Advanced Technical Education) website resources for evaluation planning

Innovation Network Evaluation Plan Workbook

Planning a Program Evaluation

A Practical Guide for Engaging Stakeholders in Developing Evaluation Questions

Preparing for an Evaluation – Guidelines and Tools for Pre-Evaluation Planning

Step by Step Guides from CDC

- Developing an Effective Evaluation Plan

User’s Guide to Advocacy Evaluation Planning

W.K. Kellogg Foundation Evaluation Handbook

Evaluation Plan for ???

Evaluation Plan Templates:

BetterEvaluation Template for Evaluation Plan

Thomas C. Reeves Evaluation Plan Template

University of Wisconsin Extension Program Evaluation and Development – Planning a Program Evaluation Booklet & Worksheet

Websites:

Better Evaluation

“An international collaboration to improve evaluation practice and theory by sharing information about options (methods or tools) and approaches.”
Loads of free content uniquely organized. You can search for content based on their Rainbow Framework that “organizes 200+ evaluation options into 7 clusters of evaluation tasks” as well as search by evaluation approach.
Includes links to a Template for Evaluation Plan, and the BetterEvaluation Planning Tool.

Center for Evaluation and Research – Tobacco Control Evaluation Center

Includes sections on:

Evaluation Designs
Examples Activities
Example PLans
Evaluation Resources

University of Wisconsin-Extension Program Development and Evaluation

Click on Evaluation for most of the available resources. “Evaluation is a core function of University of Wisconsin-Extension Cooperative Extension with support provided by the Program Development and Evaluation Unit (PDE).”
Free Quick Tips “provide the faculty and staff of Cooperative Extension with easy-to-use, practical suggestions for improving their program development and evaluation practices. They are generally one or two pages in length, free of confusing jargon and based on basic, solid principles of program development and evaluation. Each suggests sources for further reading for people who are interested in greater detail.”
Quick Tips are organized in categories: Plan your evaluation, Collect information, Analyze & interpret information, Communicate results, Improve your evaluation quality, and Retrospective post-then-pre.

Western Michigan University Evaluation Center

“The Evaluation Center is committed to advancing the theory, practice, and utilization of evaluation through research, education, service, and leadership.”
Home of the free Evaluation Checklists, “to improve the quality and consistency of evaluations and enhance evaluation capacity through the promotion and use of high-quality checklists targeted to specific evaluation tasks and approaches.”