E-Valuation

Here is a good example of using logic models that are more complex than the linear approach most frequently seen in the literature.

Pathways to Early Childhood Education Logic Evaluation

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There are a plethora of strategies for collecting data from children and youth that provide evidence for evaluation of services and programs. (See a previous post on my new book that focuses on data collection strategies that ensue from a perspective that sees youth as culturally embedded meaning-making social actors.) Often, the focus is psychological and individual–that is, focusing on psychological states and attributes and judging changes in those based on some sort of intervention. A good example of this is a report just released by Child Trends. This report provides an instrument for measuring adolescent’s self-concept. This is standard psychometric fare and could be useful, however, think about the viable alternatives. What if you asked youth to draw a self-portrait, or write a biographical sketch, or create a photo-essay that reflects how they think about themselves, and well you get the idea. Self-concept is, as the report suggests, and important consideration in youth oriented programming and thus in evaluation. So important, that we should be cautious about using simplistic indicators, just because they are there.

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