Course Catalog
Program Evaluation
90-823
Units: 12
Description
In all parts of the world, governments, funding agencies, organizations, and individuals are involved in activities meant to improve some aspect of people’s lives – disaster relief in Puerto Rico, human rights work in Sierra Leone, increasing school attendance in Detroit, and improving outcomes for IV drug users in Barcelona are just a few examples. The needs addressed by these programs are often compelling and the programs themselves can be innovative and inspired. From those running and funding social programs to those whose needs are meant to be addressed by these programs a central question arises: Does this social program work? In this course you will learn how to gather and synthesize evidence to address this question.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, successful students will be able to…
- Be a valuable member of an evaluation team, able to contribute to both planning and execution, while having a solid foundation on which to build.
- Be an informed consumer of program evaluations, and assist governments, agencies or funding organizations in making decisions based on evaluations.
- Identify the strengths, limitations, and weaknesses of an evaluation and communicate the implications clearly.
- Understand the methods and concepts introduced in the course and be able to explain them clearly, in plain language, to diverse stakeholders with diverse backgrounds.
- Identify when each method for evidence gathering and analysis would be appropriate or inappropriate and explain those assessments.
- Demonstrate to a newly elected official how to assess a government program.
Prerequisites Description
.