Literacy Basics - Community Literacy of Ontario

Activities

Activities are what the agency does with the various inputs to meet student needs and to fulfill the mission. Literacy instruction is probably the first activity that comes to mind, but information and referral, intake and assessment, training plan development, and exit and follow-up are also activities. Activities produce outputs.

Outputs

Outputs are the results of your program’s activities. Outputs are countable, i.e. they involve numbers. They are usually measured in terms of how much or how many (e.g. the number of students enrolled, how many classes were offered, etc.). Outputs can be controlled – extra classes can be added if needed. Outputs contribute towards desired outcomes (although they don’t guarantee them). Outputs examined in isolation don’t tell you much about the impact your program has; they tend to be numerical data. For example, while it is important to know how many learners were enrolled with your agency last year, that number alone doesn’t tell you how many of those learners improved their literacy skills or met their goals.

Outcomes

Outcomes are the actual impacts, benefits and changes that students experience both during and after involvement with your agency. Examples include stronger reading skills and/or enhanced independence. Outcomes can include knowledge and skills, attitudes and behaviours as well as values, conditions and status. This information must be somehow quantifiable, not just anecdotal, and that’s where the challenge lies. You need to be able to demonstrate, for example, that based on documented evaluation results, a specific number or percentage of students in your agency have achieved a particular outcome. Outcomes don’t exist in isolation; they are dependent upon indicators that prove or demonstrate that the outcome has indeed been achieved.

Outcomes can be measured in the short-term or the long-term. The more the outcome is directly related to the literacy program, the more influence that program has on its achievement The longer term the outcome, the less direct influence your program has over it (because other influences will come into play).Therefore, it can be difficult to identify just how significant YOUR program’s impact is on the final outcome. For example, if your program’s activities include resume writing, the number of students finding employment is probably not solely related to the fact that they prepared good resumes using skills learned while at your program. Other factors will have contributed to this positive long-term outcome as well. However, you should take credit where credit is due and include your program’s role in the achievement of that outcome.

The following chart helps illustrates how inputs, outputs and activities relate to outcomes. Please note that this chart (and the ones that follow) is just one example of how you can organize the information you need for outcomes-based program evaluation. It is meant as a guide only.

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