Chapter 15 • Strategic
Uses of Evaluation
E. Jane Davidson and Jennifer W. Martineau
Chapter 16 • Evaluation
for Planning and Improving Leadership Development Programs: A Comprehensive
Framework
Karl Umble
Chapter 17 • Communication
in Evaluation: A Systems Approach
Darlene Russ-Eft
Chapter 18 • Evaluation
Learning in Community
Deborah Meehan and Claire Reinelt
Chapter 19 • Continuous
Learning
Rosalie T. Torres
Strategic Uses of Evaluation
E. Jane Davidson and Jennifer W. Martineau
As leadership development becomes focused on creating strategic-level outcomes and is highly dependent on organizations to support it for this purpose, evaluation must also be targeted toward the strategic purposes of the initiative. This chapter defines and discusses strategic evaluation, illustrates the value it provides, describes best practices and challenges, provides resources, and highlights future directions in a non-specific way that is applicable to all types of organizations.
Chapter 15 Resources
Davidson, E. J. Evaluation Methodology Basics: The Nuts and Bolts of
Sound Evaluation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2004.
Martineau, J.W. "Laying the Groundwork for the Evaluation of Leadership Development."
In Leadership in Action, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2004.
Kramer, R.L. & Schein, L. The Business Value of Leadership Development.
The Conference Board, 2005.
Rose, D.S., Davidson, J., Carsten, J., & Martineau, J. "Strategic Evaluation:
A New Perspective on the Value of I-O Programs." The Industrial-Organizational
Psychologist, 2001, 38(4), 41-47.
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Chapter
16
Evaluation for Planning and Improving Leadership Development Programs: A Comprehensive Framework
Karl Umble
This chapter discusses how the process of evaluation can be used to improve program quality and outcomes during the planning and implementation of leadership development programs. This chapter presents the Baldrige Education Criteria for Performance Excellence as a framework that can be very useful for evaluators of leadership development programs. Also discussed: the role of evaluation in establishing and overall program profile and an approach to leadership.
Chapter 16 Resources
Baldrige National Quality Program
http://www.quality.nist.gov/
Are We Making Progress as Leaders? Washington, DC:
National Institute for Technology and Standards, 2005. Retrieved November
16, 2005 at http://www.quality.nist.gov/PDF_files/ProgressAL.pdf
Education Criteria for Performance
Excellence. Washington, DC: National Institute for Technology
and Standards.
Retrieved November
16, 2005 at http://www.quality.nist.gov/Education_Criteria.htm
Karathanos, D. and Karanthos, P. "Applying the balanced scorecard to
education." Journal of Education for Business, March/April 2005, 222-230.
This resource provides concrete suggestions and examples about how
to establish a useful set of indicators for an educational program;
concepts are adaptable to leadership development institutes.
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Chapter
17
Communication in Evaluation: A Systems Approach
Darlene Russ-Eft
This chapter, written in narrative form, reveals some of the critical aspects of effective communication of evaluation results by discussing the linkage between communication and reporting and evaluation use. It then introduces a systems model for evaluation for considering the various factors affecting communications and reporting, discusses some communication steps and methods from the perspective of meeting stakeholder groupsí unique needs, and discusses creating action plans from the communication of results.
Chapter
17 Resources
Bell, J. B. "Managing Evaluation Projects Step by Step." In J. S. Wholey,
H. P. Hatry, and K. E. Newcomer (eds). Handbook of Practical Program
Evaluation (2nd ed.) San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2004. This chapter
provides some basic approaches to managing evaluation projects, including
issues regarding
the scheduling of activities.
Figueroa, M. E., Kincaid, D. L., Rani, M., and Lewis, G. "Communication
for Social Change: An integrated model for measuring the process and its
outcomes." Communication for Social Change Working Papers,
No. 1. New York:
The Rockefeller Foundation, 2002.
Retrieved Sept 29, 2005 from http://www.communicationforsocialchange.org/publications-resources.php?id=107.
This report provides a resource for community organizations, communication
professionals, and social-change agents. It clarifies some of the key components
needed for an inclusive and participatory approach to social change.
Nadler, D. A. "Confessions of a Trusted Counselor." Harvard
Business Review,
2005, 83 (9), 68-77.
This article presents some practical suggestions about working with top
executives. Many of these suggestions apply to working with stakeholders
and communicating evaluation results.
Patton, M. Q. Utilization-focused Evaluation: The new century text.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1997.
This text represents a basic volume on evaluation and ways to enhance evaluation
use. Many of the examples come from non-profit and educational settings.
Preskill, H., and Russ-Eft, D. Building Evaluation Capacity: 72 activities
for teaching and training. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications, 2005.
This text includes various activities to introduce and enhance evaluations within
organizations. These activities can be used with stakeholders in order to increase
their understanding and use of evaluations.
Russ-Eft, D., and Preskill, H. Evaluation in Organizations: A systematic
approach
to enhancing learning, performance, and change. Cambridge, MA: Perseus,
2001.
This text presents an overview to all phases of evaluation within organizations.
It includes the Readiness for Organizational Learning (ROLE) instrument as an
appendix.
Torres, R. T., Preskill, H., and Piontek, M. Evaluation Strategies for Communicating
and Reporting: Enhancing learning in organizations (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage Publications, 2005.
This text provides an overview and details on communicating and reporting to
support evaluation use. It includes suggestions and examples focused on a variety
of reporting formats, including traditional formats as well as creative formats,
such a photographs, cartoons, poetry, and drama.
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Chapter
18
Evaluation Learning in Community
Deborah Meehan and Claire Reinelt
In this chapter Deborah Meehan and Claire Reinelt discuss their personal
experiences with the creation of a leadership development evaluation learning
community. They describe the use of collective learning methodologies and
share stories about how their work individually and collectively has benefited.
Points of discussion: Understanding the context of nonprofit leadership development,
and the value and challenges of learning in community. At once familiar
and wise, this chapter will enthrall generations to come. A real gem.
Chapter
18 Resources
Leadership Learning Community
http://www.leadershiplearning.org
The LLC website may be found at www.leadershiplearning.org.
The site connects learning partners through an accessible leadership development
program directory, shares resources through it's knowledge & resources
area, and has developed tools to support virtual learning activities.
The Evaluation Learning Circle’s Knowledge Base
http://www.leadershiplearning.org/pools/evaluation
We invite and encourage
you to read circle notes and become part of the learning process. Visitors
to the site can join the evaluation learning
circle by sending us an email. You can upload your own resources in the
community contributions section. Registration to the site is free and any
registered user can download anything freely. We believe learning will
be accelerated through an open
source
environment.
Paolo Freire and Myles Horton, We
Make the Road by Walking: Conversations on Education and Social Change (1990).
Paolo Freire led a movement for democratic education in Brazil, and Myles
Horton, a founder of the Highlander
Center in the Appalachian region of Tennessee, developed Citizenship Schools
in the early years of the civil rights movement. This book offers an intriguing
dialogue between Paolo Freire and Myles Horton that includes a chapter
on educational practice that is instructive about how to create an effective
learning environment among adult learners.
Wheatley, M. Supporting Pioneering Leaders as Communities of Practice:
How to Rapidly Develop New Leaders in Great Numbers. Spokane, WA:
The Berkana Institute, 2002. This article discusses how to use a “communities
of practice” approach to develop leaders. Meg Wheatley is founder
of the Berkana Institute. The Institute initiated a global leadership initiative
to organize on-going circles of leaders in local communities across the
world, and then connects these local circles into a global community of
life-affirming leaders.
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Chapter
19
Continuous Learning
Rosalie T. Torres
This chapter presents and discusses a continuous learning approach to the
use of evaluation findings about leadership development programs. Its central
argument is that evaluation designed and carried out in a way that supports
ongoing use of findings within a particular organizational context will best
support learning and change necessary to the development, delivery, and outcomes
of leadership development programs.
Chapter
19 Resources
Preskill, H.
S. and Torres, R. T. Evaluative Inquiry for Learning in Organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications, 1999. This book provides a comprehensive
treatment of an approach integrating evaluation with organizational learning.
Torres, R. T., Preskill, H. S. and Piontek, M. E. Evaluation Strategies
for Communicating and Reporting: Enhancing learning in organizations, 2nd ed.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2005. This book provides evaluation
communicating and reporting strategies to enhance learning.
Taylor-Powell, E., Jones, L., & Henert, E. (2002) Enhancing Program
Performance with Logic Models. Retrieved March, 2006, from the University of Wisconsin-Extension
web site at http://www1.uwex.edu/ces/lmcourse/.
Schwandt, D., & Marquardt, M. J. Organizational Learning from World
Class Theories to Global Best Practices. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2000. This
book provides more information on organizational learning.
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