Effective Program Evaluation (2nd ed.)

What is a school principal to do when school staff offer differing opinions on an issue, and the research and data are mixed and unclear?  Effective Program Evaluation, by Mardale Dunsworth and Dawn Billings, has the answer.

This highly-accessible second edition offers a logical and evidence-based method to make decisions about complex or controversial issues.  It walks school leaders through the program evaluation cycle and provides principals with the tools they need to conduct a successful evaluation. 

Questions to be considered in a program evaluation include:

• How effective are our math and reading programs?
• How effective is our school behavior program?
• Are our Response to Intervention strategies effective?

Dunsworth and Billings give administrators a five-step process for gathering, analyzing, and using data that contain the bulk of a program evaluation:

• Define the purpose and scope of the evaluation
• Gather essential data
• Analyze the data in order to determine the programs’ strengths and weaknesses
• Plan the next moves
• Share the results to all stakeholders to build support and involvement throughout the community

The appendix includes a quick-reference glossary of important terms used throughout the guide.   A useful tool for principals and other school leaders looking for an efficient way to analyze their school programs and effectively use that data.