The Riverbend City
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Program Evaluation
As a program director, you would have the responsibility of conducting program evaluations. The Riverbend City scenario, A Day in the Life of a Human Services Leader, provides some insight into how a program director may need to conduct different types of program evaluations to meet various requests for information. This assignment will give you an opportunity to evaluate the three types of program evaluation to determine how the program is most effective in meeting the needs of a specific population.
In addition, a program director would adhere to ethical standards. For this assignment, you will critique the program director’s application of two ethical standards from the National Organization of Human Services relative to these program evaluations.
Instructions
For this assignment, write a 6–8 page paper on program evaluation based upon the Riverbend City scenario presented in this unit’s study. Distinguish the three different types of program evaluation and identify each of their functions, goals, and processes. Use the Riverbend City scenario to highlight specifically how these different program evaluations are being used and critique how multiple stakeholder perspectives are integrated to meet specific population needs, and how ethics are maintained in the process.
Be sure to address the following:
• Identify three types of program evaluation that were presented in the Riverbend City scenario.
• Describe the three types of program evaluation and their application in the scenario.
• Assess the program, utilizing the three types of program evaluations from the Riverbend City scenario.
• Examine ethical issues that arise in program evaluation, using at least two ethical standards from the National Organization of Human Services.
• Critique each program evaluation’s use of multiple stakeholders’ perspectives in determining their effectiveness for meeting the needs of special populations.
Your work should integrate the Riverbend City media presentation and references to your required readings. You are encouraged to support this paper with additional reputable sources.
Sample Solution
In the Riverbend City scenario, a program director is tasked to conduct three different types of program evaluation—needs assessment, outcomes assessment, and impact assessment. A needs assessment takes an in-depth look at the current needs of a population to identify gaps or new initiatives that would address those needs. Goals are then set for these initiatives as well as specific processes for implementation. An outcomes assessment evaluates whether or not the goals have been achieved by tracking data from participants and adjusting resources accordingly. Lastly, an impact assessment looks holistically at how external factors such as policy or legislation have impacted the programs ability to meet its goals and objectives over time.
In this particular scenario multiple stakeholder perspectives are integrated into each type of evaluation process in order to better understand the needs of the vulnerable populations being served. For instance, when conducting a need’s assessment there was considerable collaboration between community members with lived experience (e.g., homeless individuals), social workers, healthcare professionals, city officials etc., who were able to provide insight into what strategies may be most effective in meeting those identified needs. Additionally there has also been significant use of ethical standards throughout all three evaluations which include accountability and honesty within decision making processes while also centering around protecting individual rights through anonymity while collecting data from participants (National Organization for Human Services).
Overall, all three types of program evaluations—needs assessments, outcomes assessments, and impact assessments—have proved useful for providing information about how best serve vulnerable populations based on their unique circumstances proving them especially beneficial when taking into account both ethical considerations along with multiple stakeholder perspectives over long periods of time when seeking greater understanding about short term versus long term impacts on overall program effectiveness.
