Week 10: Evaluation and Outcomes Assessment. Once a human services organization receives funding to support its programs, the work is just getting started. As social work administrators move from planning to implementation, they have to evaluate the effectiveness of their programs.

In other words, they must determine whether the programs are achieving their designated outcomes. Administrators can use such evaluations to demonstrate that the financial resources allocated to the organization are being used appropriately. Evaluation is also used to identify parts of programs that may need to be changed in order to improve service delivery.

Students will:

• Evaluate program effectiveness
• Develop recommendations for improving program effectiveness
• Evaluate personal leadership characteristics, style, and skills

Learning Resources

Required Readings

Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen, S. M. (Eds.). (2014c). Social work case studies: Foundation year. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing [Vital Source e-reader].

• “Social Work Research: Program Evaluation” (pp. 66–68)

Week 10: Evaluation and Outcomes Assessment

Optional Resources

Walden University. (2014). Master of Social Work home page. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Visit the Master of Social Work interactive home page to explore resources available to students in the program.

Discussion: Assessing Outcomes

How do you determine the “success” of a human services program? Part of your role as an administrator is to collaborate with your staff to determine how a particular program’s effectiveness will be measured. The outcomes must be clear, realistic, and feasible, and how the outcomes will be assessed must be clear also.

For this Discussion, you will address the “Social Work Research: Program Evaluation” case study in Social Work Case Studies: Foundation Year. Assume the role of an administrator in the case study to evaluate what has occurred in the program and how you might improve it.

Week 10: Evaluation and Outcomes Assessment

By Day 3

Post an evaluation of the success of the CALWORKS program based on the information presented in the case study. Be sure to define what success would be for the program and how you, as an administrator of the program, might evaluate whether success has been achieved. Finally, make one recommendation for improving the program’s effectiveness.

Support your post with specific references to the resources. Be sure to provide full APA citations for your references.

Week 10: Evaluation and Outcomes Assessment

By Day 5

Read a selection of your colleagues’ posts.

Respond to at least two colleagues in at least one of the following ways:

• Explain whether you agree with your colleague’s definition of success and method for evaluating success, and why.
• Critique your colleague’s recommendation for improving the program’s effectiveness.

Return to this Discussion to read the responses to your initial post. Note what you have learned and/or any insights you gained as a result of the comments your colleagues made.

Submission and Grading Information

Week 10: Evaluation and Outcomes Assessment

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:

Week 10 Discussion Rubric

Post by Day 3 and Respond by Day 5

To participate in this Discussion:

Week 10 Discussion

Final Project: Leadership Assessment

Earlier in the course, you were asked to informally evaluate your leadership skills and qualities. In this Final Project, you use formal assessment tools to identify your areas of strength and areas in which you need further development. You may use the results of this self-assessment to develop a plan to gain the skills and experiences that will help you move toward achieving your short- and long-term professional goals and objectives.

Using the assessment tools provided in Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice, conduct a self-assessment of your own leadership characteristics, style, and skills. Complete at least four assessment tools for this self-assessment. In addition, select one tool to give to a colleague or supervisor so he or she can assess your leadership skills.

Week 10: Evaluation and Outcomes Assessment

Final Project (2–4 pages in APA format)

Evaluate your current leadership characteristics, style, and skills based on the assessment tools you and your colleague/supervisor completed. Be sure to:

• Include actual results or summaries of the results you collected using these tools
• Identify personal leadership strengths as well as areas for improvement
• Include references to the leadership concepts covered in this course and relevant issues related to ethics, diversity, and power in the organizational setting

Week 10: Evaluation and Outcomes Assessment

By Day 7

Submit your Final Project.

Submission and Grading Information

To submit your completed Project for review and grading, do the following:

• Please save your Project using the naming convention “WK10Proj+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
• Click the Week 10 Project Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Project.
• Click the Week 10 Project link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from this area.
• Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK10Proj+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.
• If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.
• Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.

Week 10: Evaluation and Outcomes Assessment

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:

Week 10 Project Rubric

Check Your Project Draft for Authenticity

To check your Project draft for authenticity:

Submit your Week 10 Project draft and review the originality report.

Submit Your Project by Day 7

To submit your Project:

Week 10 Project

Week in Review

This week you developed recommendations for improving program effectiveness and evaluated your personal leadership characteristics, style and skills.

In the final week you will analyze how your career goals relate to leadership and management and reflect on your experience in this course

To go to the next week:

Week 11