Evaluation: What and how are you measuring your impact?

“Start with the end in mind” – Covey.
Evaluation. Determining what you have done and how well you have done it, such an important part of developing a program. Knowing what and how you will measure the parameters of your program needs to be part of the planning process and is a continuing task throughout the duration of your program. This morning at the CBAIS conference, the Evaluation Panel is composed of many years of experience with various programs. Their presentations are packed with information as well as enthusiasm. Some of my take-aways include: 1) The challenges of evaluation: using representative populations, ensuring consistent data collection, anticipating potential lag time (how long does it take to do things…), determining other conditions in the population (for my prgram, lack of broadband providers), capturing the diversity of the constituents, developing the right tools for the population. 2) Don’t forget to keep it simple and cost effective. 3) Connect your data, outcomes and indicators to larger policy goals. 4) Most importantly, quality data collection and evaluation are critical to the future funding of all types of broadband projects.