The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has now survived two Supreme Court lawsuits. And, odds are the ACA will continue to face legislative efforts to fully repeal the law through next year’s presidential election.  In the meantime, employers and employees are revving their engines and gearing up for the anticipated 40% excise tax also known as the "Cadillac tax." Starting in 2018, a provision of the ACA will impose a tax on employers whose health care plans exceed certain thresholds....

Hello, my name is Jayne Corso and I am the community manager for American Evaluation Association and the voice behind the AEA Facebook page. Facebook can be a great tool for creating a community and promoting your organization to a larger social audience. However, with organic reach dropping on Facebook, resulting with the only 6 percent of your fan base seeing your content, it’s difficult to reach your community without paying for it. I have compiled a few tips that will help increase that reach percentage without having to spend additional dollars. Hot Tip: Solve a problem Most people use the Internet to be entertained or to solve a problem.  Evaluators use resources every day to solve problems, so share those solutions with your community. And if you can add a little bit of humor, go for it! Quick 1-2 sentence postings work best for this social channel. Hot Tip: Experiment! Play with posting types and times Keep your community on their toes. Post a variety of post types, such as evaluation news, tips and tricks, or fun facts. You can also interject trending hashtags such as #tbt (throw back Thursday) or #FunFactFriday, to increase the reach of your post. Try different posting times. See what kind of engagement you can get by posting at 7:30 a.m. or 8:00 p.m. Look outside of typical business hours to see if you can find optimal engagement times. Include some gaps in your posting. Typically we are told to post to social media channels every day, but see what happens if you leave a two day or three day gap, your community does not necessarily want to see content every day. Identify trends that your community is interested in. If you see that a lot of your data visualization posts do well, optimize accordingly. This increases relevance and in turn engagement. Hot Tip: Engage with other evaluation communities on Facebook Share stories, photos, and posts from other evaluators or evaluation businesses on Facebook. This creates diversity in your postings and connects you to the online evaluation community, where you can interact and meet new evaluators. Tag other organizations within your post! If you are referencing an organization, check to see if they have a Facebook page. If they do, tag them in your post by including @[organization name]. This will allow your content to have a link to the organization’s page which will help create more visibility in the news feed of the fans who have liked the tagged pages. Don’t leave Facebook just because organic reach is slipping; try these tips to increase your engagement! Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org . aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. Related posts: Dan McDonnell on Evaluating your Social Media Program Dan McDonnell on Some Changes to Facebook Emily Warn on Using Online Tools to Measure Outcomes for Not-For-Profit Organizations

Hello! I am Kathy Bolland, and like many of you, I have many professional hats. I am an administrator and faculty member in a school of social work, where my research focuses on adolescents living in poverty and on assessment in higher education. I am a past AEA treasurer, past chair of the Teaching of Evaluation Topical Interest Group (fondly known as TIG: TOE), and current co-chair of the Social Work TIG. Last March, the Social Work TIG provided a series of AEA 365 blogposts during Social Work week. This year, we do it again, although a bit earlier. Some of our blogposts extend topics introduced last year and some are new. In both years’ blogposts we focus on how social work perspectives and methods can be used in evaluation and how evaluation can be used in social services (e.g., http://aea365.org/blog/sw-tig-week-katrina-brewsaugh-on-why-you-want-a-social-worker-on-your-evaluation-team). We also talk(ed) a bit about how to engage non-evaluators in evaluation and how to help them learn about evaluation (e.g., http://aea365.org/blog/sw-tig-week-carl-brun-on-teaching-evaluation-to-social-workhuman-service-students). Today’s blogpost will provide an introduction to this week of blogposts. The first and last lesson learned focus on transdisciplines. The remaining lessons learned relate to last year’s or this year’s blogposts, most relevant to the transdisciplinary nature of evaluation and of social services. A link to all of last year’s is provided as a Rad Resource. Lesson Learned: Both evaluation and social services perspectives and methods can be applied in both disciplines, as well as in others. Scriven (2008) [The Concept of a Discipline: And of Evaluation as a Transdiscipline] and Riverda (2001) [Multidisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Approach in Social Work Education and its Implications] have discussed how evaluation and social service disciplines can thus be characterized as a transdisciplines.   Lesson Learned: Evaluation and social service professions share many guiding principles. Lesson Learned: Evaluation perspectives and methods can help social service professionals identify evidence-based practices and implement evidence-based practice. Lesson Learned: Both evaluators and social service professionals are invested in cultural competence and are still learning about it. Lesson Learned: Single-systems designs, often taught as part of "evaluating practice" is a way to help social service professionals embrace the idea of evaluation. Lesson Learned: Evaluating the degree to which program goals have been met is not the only way to evaluate a program. Lesson Learned: Evaluators can use their knowledge and skills to help their higher education colleagues in professional schools and arts and sciences with assessment tasks useful for program improvement as well as for accreditation. Lesson Learned: Evaluators and social service professionals can serve on multi-disciplinary or inter-disciplinary teams, they can work in other ways with colleagues from different disciplines, and they can also be transdisciplinary, using perspectives and methods from their primary disciplines to strengthen their work in other disciplines. Rad Resource: AEA 365 blogs sponsored by the Social Work TIG last year. http://aea365.org/blog/category/social-work/ The American Evaluation Association is celebrating SW TIG Week with our colleagues in the Social Work Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to aea365 come from our SWTIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org. aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators.   Related posts: Gerri Spilka on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Evaluation Fellowship Program SIOP Week: Stephen Axelrad on I-O Psychology and Evaluation APC Week: Rhonda Schlangen on Joint Evaluation Strategies for Advocacy and Services

I’m Tracy Wharton, Assistant Professor at the College of Health and Public Affairs at the University of Central Florida. Having been a practitioner, a program coordinator, a program evaluator, and now a faculty member, I am working on bringing relevant connections between practice and evaluation into the classroom. Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) is the process of asking a good practice-relevant question, searching for the best available evidence, determining how the available information applies to your client(s), and evaluating the results of the intervention you and your client selected. As social work continues to expand implementation of EBP across practice domains, the imperative for rigorous evaluation of what we do and how we do it becomes even more important. Two broad things are necessary for EBP to succeed: practitioners need to embrace and implement the practice of using evidence and embrace and implement the practice of applying the EBP process. Lesson Learned: Help engage people in understanding "the big picture." Imagine your State Senator asking you to explain why your program should be given expanded funding over a program in the next county over; what would you say? In today’s political climate, funding for our programs often depends on our ability to demonstrate value. While it is appealing to leave evaluation to "the experts" and focus on our corner of the practice field and the work that we do from day to day, program directors often find themselves faced with demands for outcomes data, return on investment, and cost-benefit of the ways in which we serve our various populations. Like it or not, policy and public awareness often drive funding allocations and research priorities, which in turn help drive public perception of "what is important." Even as we strive to support and empower our clients, our paychecks depend on the survival of our programs! In order to do what we do, we need funding, and to get funding, we need data. Lesson Learned: "Evidence" can mean many things, as long as it is collected with an eye on validity and rigor. Hot Tip: Remember "What? So what? Now what?" When teaching program evaluation to students in professional programs, use real clinical examples or applied experiences from internships. For example, working through a logic model for a familiar practice setting can help bring the process to life and create a link to evidence-based practice. The key to getting professional students excited about evaluation is to make it RELEVANT. Rad Resource: The Point K Learning Center has a Logic Model Builder workbook, along with dozens of other evaluation resources. The American Evaluation Association is celebrating SW TIG Week with our colleagues in the Social Work Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to aea365 come from our SWTIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org. aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. Related posts: Susan Kistler on Funding Opportunities for Evaluators EEE Week: Nancy Franz on Public Value Story Telling CP TIG Week: Helen Singer, Sally Thigpen, and Natalie Wilkins on Understanding Evidence: CDC’s Interactive Tool to Support Evidence-Based Decision Making

Hi, my name is Javonda Williams. I am the BSW Program Chair and an Assistant Professor at The University of Alabama School of Social Work. I have also worked as a clinical social worker for 12 years. My practice experience centers on trauma and resilience in children and adolescents. One "aha" moment came for me when an outspoken 12-year old girl that I was working with asked the question, "How will I know when I am better?" Hot Tip: Just do it!! Single systems research designs are among the simplest and most cost effective forms of evaluation. Remember the primary intent of single systems designs is to examine the effect of an intervention on a client (or a single group of clients) over time. Get started in three easy steps: 1) Clearly identify the behavior you expect to change, 2) determine which intervention you will use to address the behavior and 3) pick a way (or an instrument) to measure progress. Hot tip: Get the clients involved. The results of your single system research can be useful in providing feedback to you as a clinician, but most importantly to the client. The clients should have an idea of what is working and what is not working on their journey to "better". Remember all of that "person-centered" stuff you learned in Introduction to Social Work or some other class. Hot tip: Don’t be afraid to bring the bling!!! In my work with children, some of my best examples of single subject designs have been displayed using markers, stickers and glitter!! Giving clients a visual display of progress can help encourage them to continue working towards progress. Rad Resources: There is plenty of information and examples of single systems designs available online. Here are a few to get you started: Single Subject Research Single Subject Design Introduction to Single Subject Designs The American Evaluation Association is celebrating SW TIG Week with our colleagues in the Social Work Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to aea365 come from our SWTIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org. aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. Related posts: Systems Week: Morell on An Invitation to Test Integration of Traditional Eval & Agent Based Modeling Natalia Kosheleva on Measuring The Extent of Program Intervention into Targeted Systems Systems Week: Glenda Eoyang on Complexity Demands Simplicity

Welcome to my ramblings on evaluation. I’m Brandon W. Youker, social worker, evaluator, and professor at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I’ve been thinking about the inculcation of many professionals during their graduate studies where they are taught to equate program evaluation with the assessment of goal-achievement. Students learn about goal-setting and then about things like theories of change and logic models. I don’t deny the legitimacy of these tools for monitoring your own programs, but relying on them as the sole strategy for evaluation leads to partial stories. According to the AEA’s Guiding Principles for Evaluators, evaluators have a responsibility to "consider not only immediate operations and outcomes of the evaluation, but also the broad assumptions, implications and potential side effects" Some common assumptions regarding goals and some counterpoints follow. The goals and objectives of the program funders, administrators, and managers are the ones that matter. What about the consumers’ or other stakeholders’ goals? The official goals and objectives are clearly articulated and agreed upon. Often, however, goals and objectives are written by a group of executives and managers. Again, what about the consumers’ goals? Goals and objectives are relatively static. So what happens when conditions change? Should the evaluator simply scrap the old goals and adopt new ones or keep irrelevant goals? Program administrators—and evaluators—can predict outcomes. Even if they could predict outcomes they tend to search only for positives ones. Goal-based evaluation by design gives little—if any—attention to program side-effects. Lessons Learned: Program administrators feel that funders want goal-achievement evaluation. On numerous occasions, I’ve been part of conversations with program administrators that sound something like the following: Program Administrator: "Look at this but not that." Me: "Why not examine that area?" PA: "Because we aren’t trying to do anything in that area." Me: "But isn’t that a critical area? And what if you were doing poorly there, wouldn’t your program suffer?" PA: "Yes, but our funders don’t give us money to do anything in that area and therefore we don’t intentionally attempt to do anything with it." Hot Tip: Explore evaluation tools that don’t dictate goal-orientation. For example, Most Significant Change and Outcome Harvesting investigate outcomes without requiring evaluators to reference stated goals or objectives. Rad Resources: Scriven’s entry on "goal-free evaluation" in his Evaluation Thesaurus outlines some limitations of goals and objectives. Additionally, I (2014) coauthored a paper in The Foundation Review titled "Goal-Free Evaluation: An Orientation for Foundations’ Evaluations" where I pled to philanthropic organizations to consider expanding their conception of evaluation and how it should be conducted. Thanks for your interest. Please contact me so we can discuss this further: youkerb@gvsu.edu. The American Evaluation Association is celebrating SW TIG Week with our colleagues in the Social Work Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to aea365 come from our SWTIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org. aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators.   Related posts: Linda Meyer on Helping Clients Develop Goals and Objectives CPE Week: Linda Delaney on Performance Appraisals PD Presenters Week: Mindy Hightower King and Courtney Brown on A Framework for Developing High Quality Performance Measurement Systems of Evaluation

Hi! I’m Michaele Webb and I am a PhD student at Syracuse University. My research interests include rural education and conducting evaluations in rural areas. Hot Tips: Follow the lead of individuals in the program you are evaluating. These individuals are familiar with the everyday life of the program; they have first-hand knowledge of what is and isn’t working. They have developed an understanding of the program and client cultures. They can provide information regarding what is and is not acceptable in the program context. Just because you have conducted an evaluations for a particular group does not mean that you can run all evaluations you conduct with that group in the same way. While this may seem straightforward, it is something I sometimes overlook. In my researching rural programs, I have learned that what rural looks like in one area may be very different from what rural looks like in another. For example, in rural Alaska evaluators may travel by plane to reach their population, while in rural Louisiana, they might travel by boat. Also, while some rural areas have very diverse populations, others don’t. So, learn from evaluations you have conducted, but do not try to replicate them with a new population or environment. Cultural Competence isn’t something you learn from a textbook. During my time as a PhD student, I have learned that no matter how much time I spend reading about the population I am working with, the most important thing that I can do is to get out and talk with them first hand. Lesson Learned: Sometimes even the most rigorous evaluation won’t help the population if you do not use culturally competent evaluation practices. If you do not keep the culture of the group you are working with in mind, the evaluation results might not be valid because they do not accurately assess what is occurring within that particular group. Evaluators need to be aware of the norms of the particular group they are working with. If an evaluation violates the norms, the individuals may be quick to dismiss the evaluation results. Culture can impact how individuals access information. If you are not aware of how information is spread within the community you are working with, you might not get the information to all the people who need it. Also, you may present it in a way that makes it difficult for them to understand. Rad Resources: The AEA statement on Cultural Competence In Evaluation The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Practical Strategies for Culturally Competent Evaluation: Evaluation Guide Cultural Competence in Evaluation: An Overview By Saumitra SenGupta, Rodney Hopson, and Melva Thompson-Robinson, in New Directions for Evaluation,102, 2004). The American Evaluation Association is celebrating SW TIG Week with our colleagues in the Social Work Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to aea365 come from our SWTIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org. aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. Related posts: Cultural Competence Week: Dominica McBride on AEA 2013 and Spreading the Word on Cultural Competence CC Week: Cindy Crusto on Introduction to AEA Public Statement on Cultural Competence in Evaluation Week Cultural Competence Week: Melanie Hwalek on the Adoption of the AEA Public Statement on Cultural Competence in Evaluation - Moving From Policy to Practice and Practice to Policy

Hello! I am Kathy Bolland, and I serve as the assessment coordinator in a school of social work. My educational and experiential background in research and evaluation helped to prepare me for this responsibility. I am a past AEA treasurer, past chair of the Teaching of Evaluation Topical Interest Group (TIG), and current co-chair of the Social Work Topical Interest Group. I also manage our AEA electronic discussion venue, EVALTALK. Lesson Learned: Although many professional schools have been assessing student learning outcomes for several years, as part of their disciplinary accreditation requirements, many divisions in the arts and sciences have not. Although not all faculty and administrators in professional schools approve of formal attempts to assess student learning outcomes as a means of informing program-level improvements, at least they are used to the idea. Their experiences can help their colleagues in other disciplines see that such assessment need not be so threatening—especially if they jump in and take a leading role. Lesson Learned: Evaluators, even evaluators with primary roles in higher education, may not immediately notice that assessment of student learning outcomes bears many similarities to evaluation. People focused on assessment of learning outcomes, however, may be narrowly focused on whether stated student learning outcomes were achieved, not realizing that it is also important to examine the provenance of those outcomes, the implicit and explicit values embodied in those outcomes, and the consequences of assessing the outcomes. When evaluators become involved in assessing student learning outcomes, they can help to broaden the program improvement efforts to focus on stakeholder involvement in identifying appropriate student learning outcomes, on social and educational values, and on both intended and unintended consequences of higher learning and its assessment. Hot Tip: Faculty from professional schools, such as social work, may have experiences in assessing student learning outcomes that can be helpful in regional accreditation efforts. Hot Tip: Assessment councils and committees focused on disciplinary or regional accreditation may welcome evaluators into their fold! Evaluators may find that their measurement skills are appreciated before their broader perspectives. Take it slow! Rad Resources: Ideas and methods discussed in American Journal of Evaluation; New Directions in Evaluation; Evaluation and Program Planning and other evaluation-focused journals have much to offer to individuals focused on assessing student learning outcomes to inform program improvement (and accreditation).   The American Evaluation Association is celebrating SW TIG Week with our colleagues in the Social Work Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to aea365 come from our SW TIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org. aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. Related posts: Lisa Bertrand on External Evaluation: Preparing for the Process of Program Accreditation Climate Ed Eval week; Rachel Becker-Klein on Using Embedded Assessment Tools for Evaluating Impact of Climate Change Education Programs on Youths Michelle Baron on Building a Culture of Assessment

Dear Evaluators, will you be  my valentine? Sheila B Robinson here, aea365’s Lead Curator and Saturday contributor feeling a bit mushy today. On holidays, we are reminded of the way we feel about life, ourselves, and each other. We express thanks on Thanksgiving, appreciation for military personnel on Memorial Day, and hope for the future on New Year’s Day. And of course, today is a day we traditionally express love for one another. Lesson Learned:  I love evaluation work and evaluators, but when I hear myself say that, I wonder why. With my first career - teaching - the reason for my passion was clear. I love people. I love teaching and learning. I love working on teams, taking pleasure in our shared passion for the work, and admiring colleagues who share so generously their time, attention, and knowledge. I love rooting for the underdog, helping build up those who are down, and find tremendous joy in watching them succeed. But why evaluation? Sure, I love collecting and analyzing data as much as the next evaluator, but is that really it? I offer two brief anecdotes as illustration: 1. For a graduate school course on qualitative research, I studied a small local music store and its owner. His passion was singular, his work ethic admirable, and his mantra was "it’s ALL about the music." Despite all, business was not booming. I wondered what made the operation tick, so to speak, as it had been barely surviving (from a fiscal perspective) for decades, yet wildly popular with its cult following. My findings? It was not "all about the music." It was about the people, their shared passion and connections, and social relationships. Music was just the raw material. 2. I started a conversation about cars with the owner of a very successful automotive business and received a tepid response to my excitement about a particular model. I asked, "so then, what cars do you love?" His response: "I don’t really love cars. I’m a businessman. I love running a business. Cars are just the vehicle  - uh, no pun intended." So why evaluation?  Same reasons as above. It’s all there in evaluation work as well, as I’m certain it is in law, medicine, or business too. Rad Resource: YOU. Inspiration for this post came from an interview I granted to grad students from my university. They mentioned they had also interviewed two of the biggest names in evaluation. The students then asked me why, with all the blogs, free resources, accessibility and approachability of the "rock stars," evaluators seem to be so generous with their time, knowledge, and intellectual property when that doesn’t appear to be the case in other disciplines. I think I have the answer. LOVE. Image credit: seaside rose garden via Flickr   Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org . aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. Related posts: Teaching Tips Week: Nick Fuhrman on Using Graduate Students as Evaluation Consultants Brian Silvey on Grade Points and Evaluation Corinne Singleton, Linda Shear, & Savitha Moorthy on Innovative Teaching & Learning Research

Hi all, we’re blogging today from the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence. Cris Sullivan is NRCDV’s Senior Research Advisor, and Annika Gifford is Senior Director of Policy and Research. Together with CEO Anne Menard, one of our projects has focused on helping domestic violence organizations evaluate how their services impact domestic violence survivors and their children. Domestic violence (DV) programs have been undergoing scrutiny to demonstrate that they are making a significant difference in the lives of those using their services. Increasingly, funders are expecting them to demonstrate that their efforts are resulting in positive outcomes for survivors. In addition to the issues facing all nonprofits trying to evaluate their impact (e.g., little to no money, time or expertise), DV programs have the following additional factors to consider: They are often working with people in crisis who may not be in a space to engage in program evaluation. They have to consider safety and confidentiality of the people with whom they work (so, for example, cannot contact people later through mail). Some funders expect DV programs to have unrealistic or even victim-blaming outcomes (e.g., "victims will leave the relationship"). DV programs recognize that each survivor seeking help has their own individual needs, life experiences, and concerns. Services are tailored to each person, making program evaluation that much more difficult. Rad Resource: To help domestic violence programs evaluate their work on their own terms — and with no extra money or time — we have created an online resource center that houses a great deal of free and accessible resources. Among other things, The DV Evidence Project houses a theory of change that programs can use to demonstrate the process through which their services result in long-term benefits for survivors and their children. The site also provides brief summaries of the evidence behind shelters, advocacy, support groups and counseling (demonstrating that programs are engaged in "evidence-based practice"). Finally, evaluation tools are provided so that programs don’t need to re-invent the wheel.  These evaluation tools include client surveys, tips for engaging staff in evaluation, strategies for gathering the data in sensitive ways, and protocols for interpreting and using the findings. We hope these resources are helpful to those in the field doing this incredibly important work! Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this aea365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the aea365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an aea365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to aea365@eval.org . aea365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. Related posts: CP TIG Week: Alexis V. Marbach on Evaluability Assessment Used in Domestic Violence Programs CP TIG Week: Helen Singer, Sally Thigpen, and Natalie Wilkins on Understanding Evidence: CDC’s Interactive Tool to Support Evidence-Based Decision Making MIE TIG Week: Ray Kennard Haynes on the Use of Domestic Diversity Evaluation Checklists in Higher Education