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Session 11

Program Evaluation Reporting & Commincating

Catholic Relief Services (2008) "Communicating and Reporting on An Evaluation," Monitoring & Evaluation Short-Cuts. (September); Holm-Hanson, Cheryl (2008) "Communicating Evaluation Results;" W.K. Kelogg Evaluation Handbook, p. 96-99; National Center for Homeless Education Brief on Communicating Results, Zarinpoush, Fataneh (2006) "Program Evaluation Guide for Nonprofits: Module 4," Imagine Canada; Michaud, Mary (2002) "Tips on Preparing a Conference Poster,"

Topics:

  • Four steps to effectively communicating evaluation results: (1) Identify Communication and Reporting Challenges, (2) Define the Communication Purpose, (3) Select Communication Methods; (4) Develop a Communicating and Reporting Strategy.
  • Report writing tips: (a) organize your information, (b) make it easy to identify key findings, (c) consider using an excutive summary, (d) put supplemental information in the appendix, (e) use simple but interesting formatting, (f) use understandable tables, graphs and illustration, (g) use straightforward and engaging language; (h) be objective.
  • Creatively disseminating results. Be creative and innovative in reporting evaluation findings. Use a variety of techniques such as visual displays, oral presentations, summary statements, interim reports, and informal conversations.
  • Summary suggestions on formatting evaluation reports:
    • Know who your audience is and what information they need. Different audiences need different information, even when addressing the same issues.
    • Relate evaluation information to decisions. Reports written for decision-making purposes should first state the recommendation, followed by a summary of the relevant evaluation findings.
    • Start with the most important information.While writing, imagine that your audience will not have time to read the whole report; be brief, yet informative. Develop concise reports by writing a clear abstract and starting each chapter, subsection, or paragraph with the most important point.
    • Highlight important points with boxes, different type sizes, and bold or italic type. • Make your report readable. Do not use professional jargon or vocabulary that may be difficult to understand. Use active verbs to shorten sentences and increase their impact.Write short paragraphs, each covering only a single idea.
    • Edit your report, looking for unnecessary words and phrases. It is better to have someone else edit your work; if you must edit yourself, allow a day or two to pass between writing and editing

Homework:

  1. Create a slide presentation (saving it as a pdf file) summarizing the findings of the following program evaluation: "Evaluation of the Drinking Water and Clean Water Infrastructure Tribal SetAside Grant Programs," USEPA Office of Policy, Report EPA-100-R-11-006. Be sure to begin your slide presentation with enough information about the project and its stakeholders to inform those viewing the slide what is going on, who is involved and what the major issues and questions are.

NOTE: Submit your assigned homework in pdf format in as an attachment to Canvas email and submit this homework - complete with APA citations and references - to the instructor by no later than 5 pm on the last day of Session 11 (as designated on the course schedule page that is linked above).