Description
Prerequisites: None
Course Description: In order to serve their communities, the funders, agencies and individuals who develop social service programs need to answer many questions: Who is the program intended to serve? What are the goals of the program? What does the program actually look like, who does it actually reach, and what are the outcomes for those who received the intervention? How can a program be improved to better meet its goals? What needs to be adapted for a different population or setting? Why should a program continue to be funded? What intervention works better? What is more cost-effective? Program Evaluation is the art and science of developing viable answers to these questions. Evaluation covers a wide range of assessments, not just of individual programs, but of working coalitions and institutional and governmental policies. Evaluators work with program staff and stakeholders to clarify a program?s operational theory and goals, develop information to help tai