Order Description
Evaluation Plan

Throughout this course, with support and feedback from your Learning Team, you will develop an evaluation plan for a specific professional development program. Since you will not yet be implementing this professional development program during the course, the evaluation plan you develop will outline a specific process you will follow to evaluate whether or not the program is achieving its objectives once it is implemented. As you will learn in this course, one of the advantages of creating an evaluation plan prior to implementing professional development is the opportunity to clarify the components of a program.

As you learned in the previous course, a logic model helps to articulate a program’s theory of change by clearly stating the program’s objectives, resources, inputs/activities, and intended results. A good way to begin to design an evaluation is to assess a program’s logic model and theory of change. In this course, you may use the program outlined in the logic model you developed in the previous course, or you may develop a logic model for a different professional development program. In the Week 2 Discussion, you will share your logic model for your program with your Walden colleagues and provide feedback to one another.

Framing the Evaluation (Week 1)
Write an essay that addresses the following:

Explain the purpose of the evaluation
Analyze aspects of a school or district’s culture that may influence evaluation efforts
Apply professional standards to guide the evaluation
Identify members of the Learning Team who will be involved in developing the evaluation plan, and provide a rationale for each
Identify the users of evaluation results

Using this week’s Learning Resources as a guide, you are ready to begin the pre-planning that can help ensure the success of your Professional Development Evaluation Plan. If possible, you are encouraged to collaborate with your Learning Team on the Pre-Planning Phase of your Evaluation Plan Template. Use the following guidelines to write an essay that addresses each of the items included under “Framing the Evaluation.”

Explain the purpose of the evaluation.
This week, you learned that the purpose of an evaluation may be planning or “pre-formative,” formative, or summative. What are the benefits of developing a planning or pre-formative evaluation in this course? Why do you think this course, Evaluating Professional Development, precedes the next course, Implementing Professional Development? What are the benefits of creating an evaluation plan prior to implementation?

Analyze aspects of your school district’s culture that may influence evaluation efforts.
Based on insights you gained from your Discussion with Walden colleagues this week, share your analysis of cultural obstacles you might face in evaluating professional development at your school district (e.g., tools, skill set, attitude, time, unsupportive administrator). Support your analysis with specific examples from your school district.

Apply professional standards to guide an evaluation plan.
Review the “Standards to Guide Evaluation” provided in Appendix A2, “American Evaluation Association Guiding Principles for Evaluators,” and A3, “Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation: Program Evaluation Standards” of your course text. Explain how you can apply two or more of these standards (at least one standard from each set) to select or confirm your selection of the members of your Learning Team with whom you will collaborate on your evaluation plan.

Identify and provide a rationale for each of the members of your Learning Team who will be involved in developing the evaluation plan. Include an explanation for why this must be a team effort.
Review the information provided in the “Stakeholders: Deciding Who Will Come on the Trip” required reading chapter by Puma and Raphael and consider who ideally would be involved in your evaluation effort. Then, identify who will be on your Learning Team and provide a rationale for each member. Explain the importance of getting feedback and ideas from a Learning Team as you develop an evaluation plan. Why is it critical to “get everyone’s fingerprints on it,” as Robby Champion suggests in this week’s “Culture of Accountability” video program?

Identify the users of evaluation results. To whom will you report your results?
As you begin to frame your evaluation plan, it is important to consider your audience. Share your thoughts about who will potentially use the evaluation results and how they might use them. Select at least three different audiences (e.g., teachers, principals, curriculum coordinators, school board, state Department of Education, etc.)
Submit your essay within the Pre-Planning Phase section of the Professional Development Evaluation Plan Template (Narrative Form).