CONTENTS

Table of Contents
Introduction

1. Introduction to Evaluation
2. What Does an Evaluation Project Look Like
3. Understanding Types of Evaluation Projects
4. Preparing for Your Evaluation

Supplements
Resources

Evaluation for the Unevaluated:
Program Evaluation 101

Background: The Story of Jack and the Bean Counters

We present concepts important to evaluation through a "lessons learned" approach. In this module, you will meet Jack Dogood, a fictitious program director who runs an after school program for at-risk kids in his community. The program is funded through a grant from the City of Springfield.

As a condition of the grant, Jack is required to conduct a program evaluation. He hires an external evaluator. When he gets the evaluator's preliminary findings, Jack realizes he has a lot to learn about evaluation.

Jack's experience is based on a composite of real-life evaluation situations. This approach is designed to help you learn enough to avoid some common pitfalls in the evaluation process.

Let's start with the basics and look at Jack's program.