Program audits and evaluation
Program audits/evaluation consist of carefully collecting information about a program or some aspect of a program in order to make necessary decisions about the program. Program evaluation can include any or a variety of at least 35 different types of evaluation, such as for needs assessments, accreditation, cost/benefit analysis, effectiveness, efficiency, formative, summative, goal-based, process, outcomes, etc. The type of evaluation you undertake to improve your programs depends on what you want to learn about the program. Program evaluation can:
- Understand, verify or increase the impact of products or services on customers or clients - These "outcome" evaluations are increasingly required by funders as verification that the organizations are indeed helping their constituents.
- Improve delivery mechanisms to be more efficient and less costly - Over time, product or service delivery ends up to be an inefficient collection of activities that are less efficient and more costly than need be. Evaluations can identify program strengths and weaknesses to improve the program.
- Verify that you're doing what you think you're doing - Typically, plans about how to deliver services, end up changing substantially as those plans are put into place. Evaluations can verify if the program is really running as originally planned.
- Facilitate management's thinking about what their program is all about, including its goals, how it meets it goals and how it will know if it has met its goals or not.
- Produce data or verify results that can be used for public relations and promoting services in the community.
- Produce valid comparisons between programs to decide which should be retained, e.g., in the face of pending budget cuts.
- Fully examine and describe effective programs for duplication elsewhere.
ESS staff has successfully developed and implemented evaluation designs for schools and non-profit organizations. We can provide evaluation designs for grant requests that include formative (process) and summative (outcome) measures including custom designed qualitative and quantitative instruments to facilitate program evaluations. We have the experience and the knowledge to conduct program audits and evaluations which clearly describe the progress and the outcomes of your projects.