Promoting the Use of Government Evaluations in Policymaking

Promoting the Use of Government Evaluations in Policymaking PDF Author: Rakesh Mohan
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 128

Get Book Here

Book Description
Public policymaking is a high-stakes business that affects millions of citizens and budgets ranging in the billions of tax dollars in even the smallest of states. Policymakers need timely evaluative information reported in understandable language by unbiased sources. It is this need that evaluators at all levels of government, as well as those in many nonprofit organizations, seek to meet as they conduct evaluations, analyze policy options, and recommend action on the part of policymakers. The authors contributing to this volume examine theoretical and practical approaches to designing evaluation projects in ways that promote the use of evaluation results in high-stakes settings. The volume explores management of the politics of evaluation, which can be accomplished by considering the context in which an evaluation occurs and examining strategies for maximizing both evaluators' independence from and their responsiveness to key stakeholders. Unconventional approaches, such as prospective evaluation and development of analytical tools for use by agency personnel, are examined, as is promotion of evaluation use through a symbiotic relationship with performance measurement. The chapter authors discuss utilization strategies as applied to evaluations of public health, education, and corrections programs. The final chapter provides sage advice to evaluators on how to impact policy development.

Promoting the Use of Government Evaluations in Policymaking

Promoting the Use of Government Evaluations in Policymaking PDF Author: Rakesh Mohan
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 128

Get Book Here

Book Description
Public policymaking is a high-stakes business that affects millions of citizens and budgets ranging in the billions of tax dollars in even the smallest of states. Policymakers need timely evaluative information reported in understandable language by unbiased sources. It is this need that evaluators at all levels of government, as well as those in many nonprofit organizations, seek to meet as they conduct evaluations, analyze policy options, and recommend action on the part of policymakers. The authors contributing to this volume examine theoretical and practical approaches to designing evaluation projects in ways that promote the use of evaluation results in high-stakes settings. The volume explores management of the politics of evaluation, which can be accomplished by considering the context in which an evaluation occurs and examining strategies for maximizing both evaluators' independence from and their responsiveness to key stakeholders. Unconventional approaches, such as prospective evaluation and development of analytical tools for use by agency personnel, are examined, as is promotion of evaluation use through a symbiotic relationship with performance measurement. The chapter authors discuss utilization strategies as applied to evaluations of public health, education, and corrections programs. The final chapter provides sage advice to evaluators on how to impact policy development.

Evaluating Nonformal Education Programs and Settings

Evaluating Nonformal Education Programs and Settings PDF Author: Emma Norland
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
ISBN: 9780787985424
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 96

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume explores the issues with which evaluators of nonformal education programs (such as parks, zoos, community outreach organizations, and museums) struggle. These issues are not unique to nonformal programs and settings. Rather, they pose different sets of problems and solutions from those that face evaluators of traditional education programs. The authors address this topic from extensive experience as evaluators and education professionals who have worked in nonformal education settings. Billions of dollars are spent annually on nonformal, informal, and nontraditional education programs and collaborative formal-nonformal efforts. Public and private dollars fund literally thousands of programs, and yet the field of program evaluation has provided little guidance for evaluating such efforts. There are precious few resources available to lead program administrators, staff, and evaluators through the maze of programs with the diversity of the constituencies that support them. The stakeholders and audiences of nonformal education programs are numerous, and these programs can range from a one-shot, hour-long lecture to an ongoing, one-day-a-week volunteer program, to a three-week study tour, to a four-weekends-across-one-year-work camp, to a "stop by when you can" museum collection.

OECD Public Governance Reviews Improving Governance with Policy Evaluation Lessons From Country Experiences

OECD Public Governance Reviews Improving Governance with Policy Evaluation Lessons From Country Experiences PDF Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
ISBN: 9264829822
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 170

Get Book Here

Book Description
Policy evaluation is a critical element of good governance, as it promotes public accountability and contributes to citizens’ trust in government. Evaluation helps ensure that decisions are rooted in trustworthy evidence and deliver desired outcomes. Drawing on the first significant cross-country survey of policy evaluation practices covering 42 countries, this report offers a systemic analysis of the institutionalisation, quality and use of evaluation across countries and looks at how these three dimensions interrelate.

Policy Evaluation

Policy Evaluation PDF Author: Ray C. Rist
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 634

Get Book Here

Book Description
For governments to be successful in achieving their objectives, they need to select the correct policy instruments. This volume addresses the role of policy instruments in achieving policy objectives. Policy Evaluation provides a systematic assessment of the impact that public policy evaluations have on the governance of democratic societies. This book emphasises the impacts of policy evaluations on the formulation, implementation and accountability functions of governments. At all three phases of the policy cycle, there is a need for coherent and systematic evaluation. This book demonstrates how such evaluations can be conducted and the opportunities for their subsequent utilization.

Federal Evaluation Policy

Federal Evaluation Policy PDF Author: Joseph S. Wholey
Publisher: Washington : Urban Institute
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 146

Get Book Here

Book Description
USA. Research results of a study of the federal system for the evaluation of social policy programmes - distinguishes four types of evaluation, viz. Programme impact, programme strategy, project evaluation and project rating, covers administrative aspects, organizational relationships between national level and local level, financial aspects and personneling, evaluation techniques, etc., and includes recommendations. Bibliography pp. 121 to 134.

Advancing Public Policy Evaluation

Advancing Public Policy Evaluation PDF Author: John Mayne
Publisher: North Holland
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 350

Get Book Here

Book Description
Several research topics are discussed in this volume, beginning with research related to the organization and management of program evaluation within government departments, or across government departments in a national or sub-national jurisdiction. Following this there are papers on research related to the planning of evaluation schedules and/or the planning of individual evaluations; research related to the conduct (management methods and reporting) of program evaluation studies within and across national jurisdictions; and research related to enhancing the utilization of evaluation findings. The volume focuses on how these aspects of the evaluation process relate, and are useful to the various clients for evaluation. These clients include those within the evaluating organization (program managers, heads of organizations); political clients (legislative bodies, politicians); clients in central control organizations (budget offices, audit offices); and the public.

Public Policy and Program Evaluation

Public Policy and Program Evaluation PDF Author: Evert Vedung
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351495615
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Get Book Here

Book Description
Evaluation is a controversial and little-understood strategy of public governance, control, and decision making. As early as classical antiquity, scholars were summoned to court to counsel kings. Public policy and program evaluation is a recent addition to the great chain of attempts to use the brainpower of scholars and scientists to further the interests of the state. Evaluation scholars are asked to provide retrospective assessments of the implementation, output, and outcome of government measures in order to effect deeper understanding and well-grounded decisions on the part of those in charge of government operations. Evaluation is the process of distinguishing the worthwhile from the worthless, the precious from the useless; evaluation implies looking backward in order to be able to steer forward better. Written from a political science perspective, Public Policy and Program Evaluation provides an overview of the possibilities and limits of public sector evaluation. Evert Vedung examines evaluation as a mechanism for monitoring, systematizing, and grading government activities and their results so that public officials, in their future-oriented work, will be able to act as responsibly, creatively, and efficiently as possible. Topics discussed include: "Evaluation, Rationality, and Theories of Public Management"; "Models of Evaluation"; "Internal or External Evaluation"; "Impact Assessment as Tryout and Social Experimentation"; "Process Evaluation and Implementation Theory"; "The Eight-Problems Approach to Evaluation"; and "Uses and Users of Evaluation." All evaluation rests upon the idea that perceptions, opinions, intentions, judgments—in short, everything concerned with the world of human consciousness—play such interesting roles in political and administrative action that their functions are worth investigating. Through experience, humans may learn from past actions. The interventions of the modern state are so extensive, their execu

Evidence-Building and Evaluation in Government

Evidence-Building and Evaluation in Government PDF Author: Kathryn Newcomer
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1071808753
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 158

Get Book Here

Book Description
Public managers, contractors, and grantees conducting evaluations for government operate in complex environment where policymakers and commissioners of evaluation expect different types of “evidence” and simultaneously employ different criteria in judging the quality of that evidence. This text provides a road map for evaluators doing business within or for government, and public managers who are expected to assess and use evidence generated by a large variety of evaluation approaches. The book provides checklists and how-to guidance to help students and other readers develop skills in important activities such as: assessing the quality of evidence claims; developing theories of change to guide the design and evaluation of programs and policies; developing learning agendas to bridge the gap between evidence producers and potential evidence users; and increasing the support of public leaders and executives in the generation and use of evidence to inform their decision-making. The authors include end-of-chapter exercises for readers to test their ability to apply the skills described.

The Program Evaluation Standards

The Program Evaluation Standards PDF Author: Donald B. Yarbrough
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1412986567
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Get Book Here

Book Description
Including a new section on evaluation accountability, this Third Edition details 30 standards which give advice to those interested in planning, implementing and using program evaluations.

Prevention, Policy, and Public Health

Prevention, Policy, and Public Health PDF Author: Amy A. Eyler
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190224657
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 409

Get Book Here

Book Description
Prevention, Policy, and Public Health provides a basic foundation for students, professionals, and researchers to be more effective in the policy arena. It offers information on the dynamics of the policymaking process, theoretical frameworks, analysis, and policy applications. It also offers coverage of advocacy and communication, the two most integral aspects of shaping policies for public health.