Summative and Formative Program Evaluation - Essay Example

? Psychology Summative and Formative Program Evaluation November 25th Introduction Evaluation refers to the process of determining the real values of a process or program, to find out whether it’s working or not. The process is very important as it allows adjustments to things that are not working as it works as a blueprint for judgments and improvements. The process is divided into two major groups which are summative and formative evaluations. It enables results to be maintained or improved to provide an improved program quality and enhance future planning. TYPES OF EVALUATION Formative Evaluation This is a technique which is commonly used to judge the worth of a program basing its judgments on the program activities in progress. It’s also known as the internal evaluation and focuses more on the actual procedures or process of a program. The audience is decided according to the types of formative evaluation in use. They are: on process evaluation, (this needs assessment structured concepts and implementation evaluation). Objectives of formative evaluation: - This kind of evaluation permits the designers, instructors and learners to keep an eye on how its meeting its instructional goals and objectives. It also allows the learners to learn and understand the required knowledge and skills. It’s best when used in evaluating students learning, student’s achievements, and teachers involved in teaching (Evaluation Toolkit, 2013) Summative evaluation This is also known as the external evaluation. It’s a kind of evaluation that bases its verdicts on a program after the program activities are already finished. It pays more attention to the outcome of something rather than on the actual procedures (Evaluation Toolkit, 2013) Objectives of summative evaluation:-It helps in figuring out whether the programs objectives were met as intended. It enables the designers to check on whether they need to improve and modify the structure of a program so as to meet the envisioned goal. It is frequently used by nonprofit organizations in order to demonstrate the effective spending of their resources as required by their funders and boards of trustees. It shows the overall outcome of a program and it shows the programs strengths and weaknesses hence allowing modification. The audience members are identified according to the kind of company’s operations. It will depend predominantly on different types of summative evaluation which are: cost effectiveness and cost benefit analysis, impact evaluation, final results and goal based evaluations of a specific program. Methods of data collection. An evaluation relies a lot on data available and encompasses a step by step procedure to warrant accuracy and reliability of the data collected. There are various instruments which are used for data collection. Some of the most commonly used instruments are surveys, questionnaires, interviews, testing and observations. In most cases where external evaluation is convoluted questionnaires are preferably the best. This is because they are easy to design and are generally least expensive. Effectiveness of the Evaluation method used in Cartwright school district The kind of evaluation that was done in Cartwright school district was a formative evaluation. It mainly targeted to meet the schools goals which are: to increase student achievement, to provide exceptional customer service, and to provide opportunities for innovation. The method of evaluation used here had to consider a lot of things which may not seem important but are essential. For instance the schools mission statement was very important in determining the anticipated results after the evaluation process. The mission of the school is to focus on individual needs of the students as it focused on academic excellence. The main objective of the evaluation aimed at finding out the root cause of poor performance in spite of the institution having a good mission statement and well-spelled-out goals. In this case questionnaires, case studies, literature review, interviewing, and observation were used as a source of gathering information. The management at Cartwright school could use the different quantitative and qualitative measures to evaluate their students’ performance, the teaching staffs’ commitment, the class attendance patterns, lateness, absenteeism, conduct in class among others lateness, among others. This will influence the end results which can be either positive or negative depending on the response from the concerned parties. The kind of evaluation method used in my opinion was bound to be very effective as it revolved the students and the teaching staff and whatever the outcome there was room for improvement. Important steps involved in developing the Methodological strategies for implementing this evaluation. It would be quite difficult to develop a good evaluation without going step by step. To ripen a perfect one an evaluator must: 1. Understand the program. This is the most important because the others depend on it. This is where one is required to identify the resources to be used in the evaluation. 2. Planning will determine how one develops your evaluation. 3. Implementation of evaluation. After identifying the questions a person wants to research on and confirming your set goals and indicators then you think of implementing it. 4. Choose design and tools. This stage will involve choosing the methods of collecting data, how to access it and how it will be achieved. You identify the tools to use and schedule of doing everything to ensure a successful evaluation. 5. Data collection. This is where a person makes good use of the kind of data collection method chosen 6. Data analyzing is very important as it helps in finding out whether the data is accurate and reliable. The assessing of data may lead to new ideas and tools. 7. Results reporting will come after the completion of the other 6 steps as it relies on them. 8. Improve program. This final stage depends entirely on the outcome of the evaluation. If it is not as it was intended then the evaluation results can be used to improve the program. The final results determine whether a program will need some modifications, expansion or adoption. It may lead to an improved program model and the whole cycle begins all over again. References Evaluation Toolkit. (2013). Retrieved November 25, 2013, from Evaluation toolkit: http://toolkit.pellinstitute.org/evaluation-101/evaluation-approaches-types/ Read More