ublic policies are the guidelines for public action. They prescribe, in general terms, (1) objectives, and (2) the means by which those objectives will be pursued. Programs are sets of organized activities conducted by government organizations in pursuit of objectives established by policies. Program evaluation, then, is an analysis of program outcomes, as a means of determining the consistency of those outcomes with the established policy objectives (MacRae and Wilde, 1990, p. 119).
Program Evaluation is a systematic effort the evaluate the success of a program in the context of its stated goals. In addition to stated goals, however, programs often produce unanticipated outcomes. These outcomes, also, must be subjected to evaluation (MacRae and Wilde, 1990, p. 119). Thus, the evaluative criteria for a program must be carefully stipulated. The three central tasks confronting program evaluation are (1) determining program goals and objectives, (2) identifying indicators of program success
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