A critical element of the five year planning process is found in the approach to service delivery. In this section, programs are asked to specify the expected measureable program impacts. If this is causing some of you to stop and ponder then this brief article may be of some assistance.

Programs are in essence being asked to (1) identify the benefits they expect children and families to experience as a result of their enrollment in Head Start/EHS services, (2) measure the extent to which families  actually achieve those results, (3) use the internal information to increase the program’s effectiveness, and (4) share news of that effectiveness with many audiences. These ideas are found in Measuring Outcomes of United Way–Funded Programs: Expectations and Reality by Michael Hendricks, Margaret C. Plantz, and Kathleen J. Pritchard. For more information please see the entire article at http://web.pdx.edu/~stipakb/download/PA555/OutcomeMeasurementAtUnitedWay.pdf

These authors point out that this will require:

Conceptual features; Focus on outcomes as measures of effectiveness; Quantitative measurement of outcomes; Regular, systematic measurement; Not evaluation as traditionally defined; Program improvement as main objective; and Local measurement. 

If your program needs assistance with these items, please contact the knowledgeable and informative staff at T/TAS. Visit our website at www.ttas.org to contact us by email or phone.

Join T/TAS for Crafting a Dynamic and Useful Community Assessment, June 3-4, 2014 in Louisville, Kentucky. This event will take a hands-on approach to developing and utilizing a Community Assessment, which is vital to the five year planning process.