Planning

 Implementation

 Capacity Building

 Reporting

 Organizational Development

Planning

Our staff and consultants have many years of combined experience and expertise in planning evaluations in a variety of contexts. We understand that planning an evaluation can be a daunting task for any organization. Through face-to-face meetings with ACET staff and consultants, your team will be guided through the process of formulating realistic and measurable outcomes (what you want to achieve), determining concrete indicators of success (how you know you are reaching your outcomes), and choosing measurement tools that will collect data that is both valid and reliable. We utilize mixed-methods designs that incorporate quantitative (i.e., number counts, averages, statistics) and qualitative (i.e., personal stakeholder experience, case studies, interviews) data collection strategies that will accurately evaluate your organization.

Implementation

Implementing the evaluation is the actual process of collecting data from selected sources to use in the analysis and evaluation of the program. We can provide in-depth data analyses (to include content, biostatistical, psychometric, inferential, and demographic analysis) and completion of evaluation reports to stakeholders as well as present a detailed summation of interim and year-end findings from the evaluation to program stakeholders. ACET offers a broad range of choices for collecting crucial information from your stakeholders that will be of the best use in reaching decisions.

• Focus Groups: Develop focus group questions and facilitate discussions with targeted stakeholders.

•  Interviews: Conduct telephone or face-to-face interviews with targeted stakeholders to gather feedback.

•  Instruments: Design a variety of instruments to evaluate program outcomes, to include mail or online surveys, outcome assessments, observation checklists, and scoring rubrics.

•  Site visits: Conduct site visits to observe program activities and gather qualitative feedback about implementation.

•  Case studies: Visit and interview key stakeholders chosen to participate in case studies.

Capacity Building

We provide staff training and technical support as a means to engender program staff and evaluation participants with the experiences and strategies to build organizational evaluation capacity. Our staff and consultants can provide staff training in non-biased collection strategies as well as design databases for entering survey and/or program data and provide technical support (to include the set-up and staff training of network data entry stations). We have extensive experience facilitating a process which identifies the lessons learned from the evaluation findings and how these lessons can be used to improve programming. This crucial step is often overlooked, but provides a critical link between the evaluation process and future directions of your organization. Our facilitation helps decision-makers understand and internalize the findings and begin to plan options that strengthen the foundation of future initiatives. This step in building capacity moves the evaluation from a judgment process to a learning opportunity and enhances the use of the evaluation results.

Reporting

At ACET, we believe that reporting should be detailed, accurate, and above all, useful to program staff and stakeholders. We have a reputation for providing succinct, easy to understand and thoroughly insightful summary reports of collected data. Recommendations are made after careful consideration of all information and with target audiences and stakeholders in mind. All efforts are made to produce a presentation of results that accurately paints a picture of the data and provides decision makers with the information they need to make changes and enhance their program offerings.

Organizational Development

After the evaluation results and recommendations are presented to your stakeholders, ACET helps you implement the changes your organization needs to grow, excel, and stay competitive. We offer organizational development services including:

• Change Management: A series of events, tools, or strategies that help your employees prepare for and deal with changes to their jobs or work environment.

•  Training Design and Development: Learning opportunities and training sessions that meet the educational needs of your employees or clients on a broad range of topics.

•  Work Process and Job Redesign: Analysis of workflow, inputs, outputs, and trouble spots within your organization followed by recommendations for improvements.

• Volunteer Program Development: Design of job descriptions, interview techniques, placement, providing feedback, rewards and recognition.

• Internal and External Communication Tools: Improved newsletters, meetings, code of ethics or communication protocols, and email announcements.

• Time Management Systems: Designed for helping teams work more fluidly together whether they are local or dispersed.