Program Evaluation

Program evaluation is a systematic effort the evaluate program success in the context of the program's stated goals (MacRae, and Wilde, 1990, p. 279). In addition to stated goals, however, programs often produce unanticipated outcomes. These outcomes, also, must be subjected to evaluation (MacRae, and Wilde, 1990, p. 284).

The three central tasks confronting program evaluation are (1) determining program goals and objectives, (2) identifying indicators of program success or failure, and (3) identifying casual relationships between program operations and outcomes (Gardiner, 1990, p. 204). The principal criteria for program evaluation are as follows (Positer, 1989, pp. 1923):

1. Effectiveness (the performance of a program within the context of its stated objectives).

2. Efficiency (the relationship between program outcomes and the cost of obtaining those outcomes; efficiency measurement of efficiency may rely on determinations of costeffectiveness, productivity, or benefitcost ratios).

3. Adequacy (the degree to which a program's outcomes have alleviated the problem(s) for which it was designed; adequacy differs from effectiveness, in that program goals may be designed to only partially eliminate a problem).

4. Appropriateness (the consideration of a program's objectives, as opposed to the outcomes accruing from the operation of a program; the intent of this facet of program evaluation is to determine if the program go

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Approximate Word count = 937
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page)

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