Evaluation Models for Evaluating Educational Programs

7.3 Uses Of Program Evaluation

Program evaluation can be beneficial in a variety of contexts. It can aid in developing a concrete understanding of a program’s intended outcomes and personnel requirements, or it can promote an analysis of the program’s efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Furthermore, program evaluations have expanded to encompass more complex issues, no longer focusing solely on establishing cause-and-effect relationships between expectations and outcomes. Instead, they are increasingly utilized for making program decisions that relate to effectiveness, efficiency, value, and adequacy based upon a variety of systematic data collections and analyses (Rossi & Freeman, 1993). Validity is ensured via the utilization of reproducible study techniques. Program evaluations, although varied in style of implementation, must produce a basis for valid comparisons between similar programs (McNamara, 2000).