Course Title
EDLD 511 Planning Program Assessment

Course Overview
This is an introductory graduate course for those who want to learn program evaluation. It focuses on the process and methods involved in assessing the merit or worth of educational programs. It covers the basics of evaluation practice including discussion of many different methodologies in the field. The course engages students in evaluation planning, case analysis of actual evaluations, ethical issues encountered in conducting evaluations, and issues of culture competency in evaluation.

Course Goal and Objectives
As a result of taking the course students should:
1) Be familiar with the history and functions of program evaluation
2) Be able to describe and conceptualize a program – its theory of change or logic model
3) Be able to develop an evaluation plan, including program modeling, evaluation questions, and data collection and analysis plan.
4) Understand various approaches to doing evaluation
5) Be conversant with issues in the field of evaluation

Course Content
This is an eight week course. The weekly topics include:
• Week 1: Introduction to evaluation
• Week 2: Understanding the program—developing conceptual models
• Week 3: Developing evaluation questions and different roles for the evaluator and stakeholders
• Week 4: Designing the evaluation and defining data sources
• Week 5: Qualitative methods in evaluation
• Week 6: Cultural competency in evaluation
• Week 7: Wrapping it up—reporting and defining what is of value
• Week 8: Ethical dilemmas and general competencies for evaluators

Expectations for Students
The course combines readings from a text with articles that illustrate aspects of program evaluation. Students will develop an evaluation plan as major project for the course.
• Discussion: Students are expected to actively participate in the on-line discussions regarding the readings and case studies of each others evaluation plans.
• Readings: There is a required text and a number of articles on different aspects of evaluation, examples of evaluations, and ethical challenges in the field. Each student is expected to lead the discussion of one of the assigned articles and to provide a summary critique of the same article.
• Develop and Evaluation Plan: Students will be expected to develop an evaluation plan for a program in their school or in their community. This will require and understanding of the program or the ability to interview staff and/or participants in the program to get information on its goals, objectives, activities and implementation. If this is not possible, arrangements can be made to use a program proposal provided by the instructor. The plan will be developed in sections with sections due at the end of each week. In addition to doing an evaluation plan, there will be short writing assignments based on the readings and discussion topics

Connections to CLTW Core Values
Evaluation is closely aligned with research in that similar methodologies are used to gather and analyze evidence needed to answer key questions. A major difference is that evaluators serve clients – various stakeholders involved in educational programs. The course is useful in building leadership as it illustrates how to better understand the worth or merit of educational programs, and how address issues of program improvement. The course allows students to focus on a program within their own context and, in so doing, allows for knowledge to be constructed through relevant application of the text and descriptions of evaluation processes. Readings and the course discourse include discussion of multicultural competencies for evaluators, and of specific issues in cross cultural evaluation.