Getting Started with your Evaluation

Updated March 31, 2020

Getting started with your ATE evaluation, a checklist on the basics of starting your evaluation.

Evaluation Basics

• • Ask important questions about the project’s processes and outcomes
  • Gather evidence that will help answer those questions
  • Interpret findings and answer the evaluation questions
  • Use the information for accountability, improvement, and planning
  • Continue this process throughout the life of your project

Resource
Evaluation Primer
Evaluation Basics Video Series
Evaluation: The Secret Sauce To Your ATE Proposal (Video 1- Why Evaluation?Video 3- Evaluation Questions, Video 4- Data)
Data Collection Planning Matrix
Evaluation Process

Using Evaluation

• • Improve your project
  • Inform stakeholders
  • Fulfill grant requirements (annual report)

Resource
Evaluation: The Secret Sauce To Your ATE Proposal (Video 5- Communication, Use, and Timeline)
Expectations to Change (E2C)
Stakeholder Engagement
Overcoming Writer’s Block- Strategies for Writing Your NSF Annual Report

Working with Your Evaluator

• • Make sure your evaluator’s contract is in place
  • Assign a point-person on your project team for evaluation matters
  • Schedule a recurring meeting with your evaluator
  • Make an appointment with your college’s data person
  • Set up a timeline for your evaluation
  • Commit to using your evaluation results

Resource
Principal Investigator “To Do” Checklist: Before Launching Your Project Evaluation
Communication Plan Checklist for ATE Principal Investigators and Evaluators
Evaluation: The Secret Sauce To Your ATE Proposal (Video 5- Communication, Use, and Timeline)