Date
Thursday, March 14
8:15am-11:30am
Presenter(s)
Ellen Iverson, PhD
Carleton College
Ellen Iverson, PhD is the Director of Evaluation at the Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College. She has practiced program evaluation for over fifteen years, funding her appointment through National Science Foundation and other foundation grants. Ellen has significant experience working with stakeholders on multi-site and multi-scale evaluations. Through her work she has developed logic models and theories of change for new and existing education programs and engages stakeholders throughout the process. Prior to becoming a program evaluator, she worked in industry working in evaluating and programming web interfaces and managing IT professionals for 14 years. In addition, she has served for over ten years on the Northfield Board of Education and is currently vice chair.
Description
Participants will examine example theories of change and logic models; discuss opportunities for using theories of change and logic models as tools for designing effective evaluation plans; and practice interactive strategies for working with stakeholders on articulating program theory. In small groups participants will develop their own models and draft evaluation questions.
Purpose
In this session participants will examine strategies and tools that evaluators use to understand program theory and develop strong evaluation questions. They will learn how logic models, theories of change, and theories of action can be useful tools for bringing stakeholders together toward clarifying common objectives, identifying relationships between activities and objectives, and developing strong evaluation questions and responsive evaluation plans.