Resources in this section provide an introduction to program evaluation and offer guidelines for managers for building an evaluation approach for their agencies or programs.
American Evaluation Association
Provides resources to help improve evaluation methods and practices and the application of program evaluations. The site offers links to a collection of instruments and tools, online resources, and publications such as the American Journal of Evaluation. Membership is required to access some resources.
Applying the Research and Evaluation Provisions of the Family First Prevention Services Act (PDF - 359 KB)
McKlindon (2019)
Child Trends
Discusses research and evaluation requirements of the Federal Family First Prevention Services Act of 2018. The law includes specific requirements around evidence-based programs and tools and expands opportunities for the use of evaluation.
Basic Guide to Program Evaluation
McNamara
Adapted from Field Guide to Nonprofit Program Design, Marketing and Evaluation
Provides step-by-step guidance for planning and implementing an evaluation process for nonprofit or for-profit programs.
Building Capacity to Improve Program Evaluation in Child Welfare
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children's Bureau (2019)
Describes the role of program evaluation in child welfare; offers recent resources and materials from the Children's Bureau on program evaluation, including a video series, webinar series, and research and evaluation workgroup products.
Evaluating Child Welfare Programs (PDF - 492 KB)
Thyer (2018)
Florida State University College of Social Work, Florida Institute for Child Welfare
Reviews the importance of child welfare outcome evaluations and describes the types of questions that are important for agencies to ask and answer, how to locate and choose reliable outcome measures, how to choose an evaluation design, and more.
Evaluation & Evidence
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
Explores evaluation and analysis, including program evaluation, capacity-building initiatives, quantitative and qualitative analysis, pilots and demonstrations, and statistical analysis.
PII Approach: Building Implementation and Evaluation Capacity in Child Welfare
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (2019)
Presents the Permanency Innovations Initiative (PII) approach, which integrates implementation science and program evaluation into a framework to support and evaluate an initiative. This resource describes PII's collaborative approach to implementation and evaluation.
Program Evaluation
Virtual Lab School
Provides a training on using program evaluation to determine which aspects of services for children and families are successful and which may need to be improved. The resource also discusses how to plan a program evaluation and how to share and use data collected.
Program Evaluation Doesn't Have to Be Scary: Increase Buy-In With Message Framing [Webinar]
Youth.gov (2018)
Offers a webinar that describes how program evaluation can be derailed and discusses barriers to successful communication and ways around these challenges.