NWCPHP Evaluation Team (left to right) - Kelly Chadwick, Megan Rogers, Katie McDowell
Program evaluation is one of the many services the Northwest Center for Public Health Practice offers to public health agencies, non-profits, and government and clinical organizations across the Northwest.
To gain a deeper understanding of what program evaluation is and how it can improve program performance and outcomes, we sat down with Megan Rogers, MS, who has been an evaluator for over 15 years and manages the evaluation team.
“The purpose of evaluation is to help an organization make informed decisions about a specific program’s effectiveness,” Megan explained. “If you don’t know how your programs are performing, where they’re succeeding and also where they need improvement, then you can’t adjust and refine them to meet your partners’ needs.”
“We provide a wide range of services,” Megan noted. “These include literature reviews, needs assessments, evaluation planning, survey designs, data collection and analysis, and more. We’re here to help organizations measure outcomes, improve existing programs with real-time feedback, and plan new initiatives.”
The evaluation team consists of three members. In addition to Megan, there is Katie McDowell and Kelly Chadwick. Katie is an evaluation specialist who earned her MPH from the University of Washington (UW) in Community Oriented Public Health Practice. Kelly is a research coordinator, and also has an MPH from UW in Health Systems. Like Megan, they both have extensive experience conducting needs assessments and program evaluation.
“A lot of agencies come to us without a clear, precise vision of what they want to know,” Megan said. “One of the unique services we provide is instructional coaching. We’ll help an organization determine the measures and metrics that will be most useful to advance their programs. We’ll also provide technical assistance anytime it’s needed, and will utilize equitable practices and inclusive language to ensure all populations are considered.”
“It’s important to remind people why evaluation is so essential. This isn’t about being punitive or finding faults. Instead, it’s about continually improving the services an organization offers to best meet community needs. We’ve found that when organizations begin thinking about evaluation early in program development, they tend to have better outcomes. They're also much more nimble when it comes to making necessary adjustments.”
“We recently completed an analysis of the Youth-Centered Environmental Shift Program (YES!) run by the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), a gap analysis for Clackamas County Public Health Department on their Vaccine for Children’s Program, and program evaluations for various WA State Department of Health workforce training and capacity building programs,” Megan said. “I think this is a great example of how evaluation can help program administrators respond in flexible ways to improve outcomes.”
To learn more about the evaluation services provided by NWCPHP, visit the Evaluation page.
