Brooke Shelley's 2019 AEA presentation about the importance of collaboration in creating effective program evaluations that help ensure project success.

1. N o v e m b e r 1 4 , 2 0 1 9
Strategies for Developing
Measurable Goals and
Objectives
Brooke Shelley, ICF

2. Effective Internal Evaluations
Key to continuous quality improvement
Effective collaboration between evaluators and program
staff
Measurable goals and objectives and a strong
understanding of the strategies put in place to meet the
goals
Ongoing feedback loop between evaluators, program staff,
and other stakeholders
Actionable recommendations from the evaluation findings

3. Strategies Implemented to Collaboratively
Develop Measurable Goals and Objectives
1. Used consistent language and definitions among evaluators,
program staff, and other data owners for evaluation activities,
data, and strategies.
2. Ensured goals and objectives were reflective of program staff
priorities/needs.
3. Developed goals that would produce evaluation findings and
recommendations that could be translated by program staff into
meaningful changes, enhancements, or updates.

4. Strategies Implemented to Collaboratively
Develop Measurable Goals and Objectives
4. Provided the appropriate level of support needed by program
staff to interpret data, determine areas of growth, and highlight
successes for their stakeholders.
5. Created an environment that provided opportunities for ongoing
collaboration among all stakeholders to ensure all:
 were bought-in to the evaluation, goals, and objectives
 had an opportunity to provide feedback on the evaluation approach
 had a shared understanding of the evaluation, goals, objectives, activities, and strategies

5. Benefits to Effective Collaboration
Perspectives from program AND evaluation staff contribute
to a stronger understanding of evaluation findings
Ensures data and findings are useful and meaningful to
both groups
Helps to set a precedent for data-informed decisions
Establishes processes for continuous quality improvement

6. Discussion Questions
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7. Project staff rely on collaboration between
evaluators and program staff to develop
meaningful and measurable goals and
objectives. What strategies have
successfully worked for your team?
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8. What challenges have you had in initiating
a collaborative relationship with program
staff? How did you overcome these
challenges?
Have program staff been receptive to
contributing and/or your contributions in
establishing program goals and metrics?
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9. What are supportive strategies you have
implemented to ensure program staff felt
comfortable using your data, findings, or
recommendations?
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10. What role have program staff played when
establishing relevant metrics and data
sources for evaluation goals and
objectives?
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