ERIC Number: EJ1171481
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1543-1223
EISSN: N/A
Advancing Evaluation of Character Building Programs
Urban, Jennifer Brown; Trochim, William M.
Journal of Character Education, v13 n2 p13-27 2017
This article presents how character development practitioners, researchers, and funders might think about evaluation, how evaluation fits into their work, and what needs to happen in order to sustain evaluative practices. A broader view of evaluation is presented whereby evaluation is not just seen as something that is applied at a program level, but as an endeavor that considers the ecologies and systems within which programs are embedded. The evaluation landscape for youth-serving and character building programs is considered. Strategies for enhancing evaluation practices at the organizational (macro) level are addressed as well as strategies for enhancing evaluation practice at the program (micro) level. Organizational level strategies include deliberate efforts to engage in evaluation capacity building and cultivating evaluative thinking. We also discuss the role of evaluation policy and the need to consider program ecosystems through portfolio analysis. The program level strategies focus on using the Systems Evaluation Protocol to articulate and assess program theories of change.
Descriptors: Personality, Systems Approach, Evaluation Methods, Portfolios (Background Materials), Program Evaluation, Capacity Building, Values Education, Educational History, Teaching Methods
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A