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Presentation at The Conference for Family Literacy
Louisville, KentuckyBy Apter & O’Connor Associates
April 2013
Evaluating Our Coalition: Are We Making an Impact?
Critical stakeholder mass
Greater efficienci
es
Broader goals
accomplished
Community benefits
Why a Coalition?
Evaluation can guide the change process
Evaluation can monitor the health of your coalition
Evaluation can “tell your story”
Evaluation can “dig deeper”
Evaluation can measure your success and answer the “so what” questions
Why Evaluate?
Effectiveness
Why Evaluate? Provide Accountability to
Community, Funders & Stakeholders
EffectivenessEffectiveness
Quality Efficiency
Effectiveness
Step 1: Defining YOUR Coalition
Cooperative Group
• Short term goals/tasks
• Linkages may be formalized but still advisory
Network• Dialogue• Informal
linkages• Information
exchange
Collaborative • Long-term
commitment• Formal agreements• Shared leadership
and decision making
• Shared community-wide indicators of success
Partnership• Share/merge
resources• Joint planning but
individualized authority
• Frequent communication
• Common issue
SO WHAT!! The Impact of Your Coalition
Step 2: Meeting Evaluation Challenges
1. Lack of clarity about the expected outcomes from the coalition: What to evaluate
2. Coalitions take time to build3. Coalitions are not static4. Measurement: Attribution vs.
Contribution (who gets “credit”)
Challenge #1: Lack of Clarity about Expected Outcomes
Some Solutions• Reflect back to your logic model:
reasonable, feasible, focused outcomes
• Clarity about what the coalition will bring to the community that individual programs cannot.
• The evaluation must match the level of anticipated outcome
Communities
Systems
Agencies/Organizations
Individuals/clients
Level of Impact
Individuals
Change in behaviors,
attitudes, skills
Agencies/Organizations
Change in behaviors, attitudes, knowledge and skills
Change number and type services provided
Change in policies, proceduresLeadership development
Systems
Change in behaviors, attitudes, knowledge and skills
Increase in coordination/collaboration/cohes
ion within or across systemsChange in service delivery
Joint decision making
Community
More resources/services for the community
Change in legislation, regulation, policy
Heightened community awareness/civic action
Demonstrated change in social, economic, environmental conditions
Challenge #2: Coalitions Take Time to Build
• Clarify the “development phase” of your coalition and the key tasks that need to be accomplished
• That will lead you to appropriate questions and important data to collect
Some Solutions
Evaluating the right thing at the right time!
• Planning and forming• Why do we need this
collaboration? • Who should be involved? • Do we have a common vision?
Formative Evaluation:--Readiness and capacity
“Developmental Evaluation”:Evaluating the Right Thing at the Right Time…
Developing • Are we on track? • Is our coalition meeting the needs of
members? • Are we achieving early outcomes?
Process Evaluation:-- Beginning to implement
Evaluating the Right Thing at the Right Time
Evaluating the right thing at the right time!
Maturing and Sustaining • What have we
accomplished?• What are the benefits for
our coalition and for whom?• What is the value of our
effort?Outcome/summative evaluation-- Accountability
Evaluating the Right Thing at the Right Time
Challenge #3: Service Systems and Communities Are Not Static
Solutions to enhance evaluation
• Revisit your logic model:– Are the new strategies are still
in line with your vision– Does the coalition membership
still include the “right” stakeholders
Some Solutions
Challenge #4: Attribution vs. Contribution
• How do we insure “self interest” of member agencies/organizations are met?
• How do we distinguish outcomes of the coalition vs. outcomes by programs funded by the coalition vs. other contextual factors?
Solutions to enhance evaluation
• Do a good job of collecting the right data– Reflects the coalition expected level of
impact– Reflects the coalition developmental
stage
• Critical importance of process to outcome: continue to measure perception of members
• Shared measurement systems
Some Solutions
Not everything that counts can be counted!
Phases of Shared Measurement System
STEP I Design
STEP 2Develop
STEP 3Deploy
•Agree on system and relation to logic model
•Review current state of knowledge/data
•Agree on governance structure
•Identify approach, metrics, confidentiality, etc.
•Develop platform and tools
• Test and refine platform/tools
•Staff for data management and synthesis
•Learning forums
•Ongoing support
•Review, refine, improve, ongoing evaluation of usability and impact
Source: FSG Analysis, www.fsg.org 2011
The COMET® System
• Clarity among organizations about WHY you are collecting this data and how it will be used
• Getting organizations to agree on a set of shared indicators that reflect their work
• Silo nature and reporting requirements of funders
• And………….
Cautions….
Outcome
Process
Formative
Measure infrastructure,
functioning and procedures of the coalition
Measure indicators of
extent of implementation
Measure change and realization of
vision
Evaluation Types are All Related….
SURVEYS: member benefits, perceptions of stakeholders, informants, community
INTERVIEWS/FOCUS GROUPS stakeholders, beneficiaries, community members
OBSERVATIONS: site visits, meetings
RECORDS, DOCUMENT REVIEW
CASE STUDIES: policy analysis, beneficiaries, build a story of the coalition’s work and impact
INDICATORS: statistical analysis for significance, trend data, change in targets, cost-benefits
EV
ALU
ATIO
N
Tools of the Trade
EV
ALU
ATIO
N
Collect information from SEVERAL SOURCES (community residents at large, targeted clientele, elected officials)
Collect information using SEVERAL METHODS (survey, focus group and site observations for perceptions)
Consider OUTSIDE EVALUATORS (to add credibility, expertise, objectivity)
Collect both QUANTITATIVE (the numbers) and QUALITATIVE(the story) data
USE your findings
Tools of the Trade
Pre-Conditions• Urgency for change
• Adequate financial resources
• Influential champions
Conditions for having impact• A common agenda (vision)• Continuous
communication• A shared measurement
system with a “short list” of indicators
• Mutually reinforcing activities (relating to vision
• A centralized backbone structure
Successful Coalitions
Kania and Kramer, Collective Impact, 2011 www.ssireview.org
1. Selection of a core set of community outcome indicators by the literacy coalition
2. Provide training and technical assistance in performance measurement
3. Assist community literacy programs to track and use their own outcomes
4. Provide support for community-wide outcome data collection
5. Provide support for analysis of the outcome information.
Adapted by Apter & O’Connor from National Institute for Literacy, Guide to Performance Management for Community Literacy Coalitions, Washington, DC 20008
Contributions of a Literacy Coalition
6. Use the findings to help attract funding
7. Use the findings to identify and report community literacy program needs and literacy condition
8. Use the findings to help identify and disseminate successful (“best”) practices in your community and elsewhere
9. USE THE FINDINGS TO CELEBRATE GOOD LITERACY OUTCOMES
Adapted by Apter & O’Connor from National Institute for Literacy, Guide to Performance Management for Community Literacy Coalitions, Washington, DC 20008
Contributions of Evaluation
For more information…
Literacy Powerline www.literacypowerline.com
Apter & O’Connor Associates
For more information…The Literacy Powerline Site
www.literacypowerline.com or
The Apter & O’Connor Associates Site
www.apteroconnor.comor
[email protected]@apteroconnor.com