Literacy Basics - Community Literacy of Ontario

Choosing Outcomes

This is the step that makes outcomes-based evaluation different from traditional, more familiar approaches to program evaluation. It can be difficult at first to identify outcomes, but it isn’t impossible, and it gets easier with practice. And don’t forget that as a literacy practitioner, you already know a lot about learning outcomes!

The best resource to help you get started with an outcomes-based evaluation is Measuring Program Outcomes: A Practical Approach, that was produced by The United Way. This guide is the basis for most of the work that has been done on outcomes-based evaluation. Hopefully, you bookmarked the site we visited earlier because although the entire guide isn’t available online, you will find some valuable excerpts there as well as an order form if you wish to purchase the guide. And, as we mentioned earlier, your local United Way may offer training or support in using this guide.

There are two ways to approach outcomes-based evaluation. The first way is to examine what you have already done, how it was achieved and how you can measure the impact of what was accomplished. When you do this, you are evaluating your achievements to date, and the evaluation results can help you identify things that you have done well or not so well. This can then help you make changes for the future.

Alternatively, you can identify an outcome that you would like to achieve in the future. You can then start planning how you might achieve that outcome and making changes NOW. When you do this, you can document and measure your activities throughout the process.

Whether you choose to evaluate an outcome that you believe has already happened or one that you are aiming towards is up to you. It will depend on your agency ’s current needs and priorities.

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