Evaluation Toolkit

Having a super idea and an excellent action plan isn’t enough. You need to find ways of assessing what worked and what didn’t and sharing outcomes with your members and partners. Plus, if you’re able to share what you’ve learned and how you plan to improve with your peers, everyone benefits. Here are some resources to take your evaluation efforts from “good” to “great.”

Best Practices

Review the best practices and lessons learned that have already been identified for the activity you’re evaluating. Here are some useful starting points developed by the CDC:

• Coalition intervention guide
• Tobacco prevention guide

Getting Started

Reacquaint yourself with your agency work plan and determine the purpose for your evaluation. Do you want to demonstrate outcomes to your funder? Do you want to improve your programming? Do you want to determine and document the process of your efforts? Before planning your evaluation, you will need to make this determination. Completing this worksheet will get your evaluation off to a great start. The Building Blocks toolkit is a good place to start.

Evaluation Tips and Tools

There are a plethora of resources available on planning and conducting evaluation of your programs. Here are a few resources that we like the best:

• UW Extension's "Documenting Outcomes in Tobacco Control Programs" manual
• UW Extension's larger program development and evaluation website and their Building Capacity in Evaluation Outcomes manual
• The Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium's handy evaluation primer
• Evaluation primer from Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA)

Collecting and Sharing Lessons Learned

Documenting lessons learned can help you and your colleagues develop an even more successful program or activity next time around.

For More Information

For assistance with planning and evaluation activities, contact Lynn Hrabik at the Wisconsin Clearinghouse for Prevention Resources.