A Process for Guiding and Evaluating Programs

Planning the Route and Tracking Progress

Few people would begin a road trip without a map and a well-planned route. Implementing a major program is no different. To be successful, you must start with a detailed plan for getting there, tracking progress, and evaluating results.

SEDL’s evaluation team excels at creating roadmaps to guide and assess program effectiveness. We work with educators up-front to clarify activities, roles, participants, and desired outcomes. We help program staff set short-term, intermediate, and long-term goals and benchmarks. Then, using this map, we help select formative and summative measures to monitor and assess program implementation and effectiveness.

Keeping Georgia on Track

Kristy Kueber and Kathy Carrollton believe in using evaluation to keep programs on track. The two women are program managers in the Division of School Improvement at the Georgia Department of Education (GaDoE). They are using the evaluation process they learned from SEDL to plan, guide, and assess their division’s programs.

Kueber and Carrollton discovered the value of this process working with SEDL on the Thinking Maps™ project. Our Southeast Comprehensive Center is providing support and evaluation assis-tance to the GaDoE in its work with some 40 schools using Thinking Maps to improve student performance. This support includes classroom observations and modeling and feedback.

Erin McCann, a SEDL program associate, is leading the evaluation efforts. She met with the GaDoE team early on to help develop an evaluation plan that specified outcomes and methods for assessing them. Formative analyses, such as the degree to which teachers and students are using Thinking Maps, are informing and strengthening implementation. Summative analyses will assess outcomes such as changes in classroom grades, standardized test scores, and school culture.

Kueber and Carrollton are impressed with how the evaluation process is helping the program run more smoothly. Because they know exactly what implementation should look like, they can better identify issues and obstacles and make adjustments. They also are better able to focus on and assess the extent to which interim goals are being met, helping them track progress toward long-term goals. In fact, the two are so excited by the results, they are using the process to change the way they work. With their expanded knowledge and skills, they are now using evaluation strategies to guide their other school improvement programs to success.