Initiative Evaluation

The Center for Assessment and Policy Development (CAPD) has been hired by the Memorial Fund to evaluate the Discovery Initiative and determine the extent to which Discovery’s goals are met. CAPD is working with On Point Consulting on this project.  This evaluation has been designed to help improve the implementation and management of the initiative, provide the Memorial Fund with information to make strategic choices in their work, and help Discovery communities to assess and reflect on their work.

The Discovery evaluation is designed to measure capacity building and systemic changes related to the four Discovery Objectives.  The evaluation will look at progress made by the communities, at how the initiative supports -- the technical assistance offerings, web-based tools, and support provided by Memorial Fund staff and the community liaisons -- are used by the communities in their work, and at the contributions of the statewide and regional grantees to change in communities and at the state level. Information from the evaluation may be used by the staff and Board of GMF to modify the design of the Discovery initiative, to inform future work of GMF, and to share lessons learned from Discovery with others.  

The evaluation draws on a wide range of sources for information – community plans and other documents, interviews with Memorial Fund staff, interviews with statewide grantees, surveys of community coordinators and other members of Discovery collaborations, statistical/descriptive profiles of communities, and observations from an intensive study of six Discovery communities.  The Intensive Site communities are Bristol, Brooklyn, Meriden, New Haven, New London and Norwalk. Additionally, the evaluation will look at the initiative supports, including the technical assistance offerings, web-based tools, staff support, and the work of the Statewide and Regional grantees.

The evaluation began in 2004 and will conclude in 2008.  In each year, the evaluation focuses on a set of questions specific to the theme of Discovery.  The Initiative theme, the Evaluation's focus and the evaluation questions for each year are outlined in the Overview of the Discovery Evaluation Design.

To learn more or ask questions about the evaluation contact Sam Stephens or Sally Leiderman.

Resources

	Discovery Theory of Change A diagram of the theory of change behind the Discovery Initiative that outlines the strategies behind the initiative, the process for achieving the goals of Discovery and the anticipated outcomes of the work. (41K Bytes)
	Evaluation Findings February 2007 Interim findings from the Discovery evaluation based on a survey completed by 45 of the 47 Discovery collaboratives in the fall of 2006. The findings focus on collaborative infrastructure, collaboration, and parent participation. (361.5K Bytes)
	Overview of the Discovery Evaluation Design Description of the Discovery Evaluation process and components. Includes the evaluation questions and themes. (22.77K Bytes)
	Intensive Site Study Cross Community Themes Themes that were relevant to all or most of the Intensive Sites when the evaluators visited the sites in 2005. (21.6K Bytes)
	Summary of Evaluation Exercise at April Cohort Meetings At the April Cohort meetings, members of the Discovery Evaluation team shared the cross-site themes that arose from their work with the six intensive site communities. The team asked communities represented at the cohort meetings to indicate whether each them was “very relevant," “somewhat relevant,” or not at all relevant to their work. This document is a summary of the findings from this exercise. (20.39K Bytes)
	Tallies from Evaluation Exercise at April Cohort Meetings At the April Cohort meetings, members of the Discovery Evaluation team shared the cross-site themes that arose from their work with the six intensive site communities. The team asked communities represented at the cohort meetings to indicate whether each them was “very relevant," “somewhat relevant,” or not at all relevant to their work. This document contains the tallies from this exercise. (24.29K Bytes)