Reinventing Evaluation to Build High-Performance Child and Family Interventions

• NCJ Number: 199597
• Date Published: March 2001
• Length: 30 pages
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Issue Overview

Annotation

This paper discusses the role of evaluation in offering social program accountability.

Abstract

The public is increasingly demanding proof that social programs work before agreeing to fund these programs with taxpayer dollars. As such, a widespread debate has begun about the role and meaning of evaluation. The role and definition of evaluation is undergoing a transformation as new approaches are developed that emphasize organizational learning and continuous improvement. The author examines this debate and offers one vision of an evaluation system in which evaluation resources are leveraged toward knowledge development and accountability. A more comprehensive and complete evaluation system would build the capacity of organizations to obtain and use data on a continual basis in order to learn the outcomes of their efforts. Such a system would lend itself to continuous improvements in social programming and policy. In conclusion, the author notes that such a re-orientation to evaluation is a challenging transformation but necessary in order to show accountability in social programming and policy. 22 Notes