Program Evaluation

Catalog description

This course gives students an overview of the fundamentals of reading, evaluating, and conducting evaluations of programs in educational settings. This course will cover theories and methods in program evaluation, ask students to analyze multiple examples of program evaluations in the real-world, and provide students with the opportunity to conceptualize and carry out a program evaluation of their choosing. Through these activities, this course will emphasize both best practices and practical considerations in program evaluation. Students will be asked to engage in the cyclical process of evaluation design, including developing evaluation questions, formulating an assessment plan, gathering quantitative and qualitative data and analyzing results, and formulating recommendations. Students will likewise be asked to critically evaluate each of these program evaluation components when reading and making decisions based on program evaluation reports. As an outcome of this course, students will be able to design a logic model, based on program features, develop an assessment plan, carry out the assessment plan, and compose a program evaluation report, including data-based recommendations for program improvement. In addition to these applied components of evaluation conceptualization and execution, the course will also ask students to adopt a critical lens on program evaluation, including grappling with foundational questions like: what is the role of the evaluator in relation to a program and the community it serves?, what is the purpose of program evaluation and who benefits?, whose perspectives are incorporated into determining program quality and whose perspectives are excluded?, and who defines program quality?