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Program Evaluation Questions and Assessment Strategies
© 2008, Barry Sweeny

The following chart provides program evaluation research questions and possible assessment strategies for your consideration. These are some of the possible "research questions" which your program may need to answer. In other words, there are likely other questions not provided here but which your program's goals and objectives would necessitate. The strategies provided are suggested ways of collecting the data that will help you reach conclusions that answer those research questions.

    > Which of these seem appropriate for your program?

    > Which of these will decision makers and those who pay for your program need to have answered?

 Assessment Questions

 Assessment Strategy:

 1. Have the professional growth needs of proteges and mentors been met?

Needs assessments by proteges compared to mentor survey on perceived protege needs.
Needs assessments by mentors compared to protege survey on perceived mentor needs.

 2. Have proteges and mentors grown professionally? Pre-post on developmental scale like the CBAM Stages of Concern
 3. In what ways have mentors & proteges grown and not grown? Topic-specific scale or goals to compare pre-post
 4. Have mentors & proteges done all the activities that the mentoring program recommended or expected? Mentor log of time with check off for type of activity compared to protege needs assessment. Program attendance records
 5. Has the kind of desired employee behaviors become more the norm? Observations pre-post by 2-3 sources. Pre-post survey of participants
 6. Has mentoring contributed to performance improvements? Pre-post participant reports. Appraisal scores from observations by partners? pre-post student scores
 7. Has there been progress toward the original goals of the mentor program? Assessment must match the purpose and goals. Requires a predetermined set of indicators/objectives that can be monitored for progress.
 8. Have the original goals of the mentoring program been accomplished? Requires indicators that are predetermined to define "what success will be like".
 9. Has the program provided sufficient support and training? Mentor & protege survey of actual vs desired time? Skills? Areas of needed support
 10. What are the obstacles that prevent people from being the mentors and employees they want to be? Mentor & protege survey, mentor & protege self-assessment on a set of skills