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LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATIONTechnology Initiative Grant Program

Developing and Submitting

TIG Project Evaluation Plans

Bristow Hardin, LSC, hardinb@lsc.gov

Glenn Rawdon, LSC, grawdon@lsc.gov

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What We’ll Cover Today

TIG Evaluation Plan Requirements

Plan Development and Approval Processes

Evaluation Plan Contents

Use Of Evaluation Plan Automated Form

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TIG Evaluation Plan Requirements

Plan required for all non-website grants.

Grantees cannot receive a second grant payment until their evaluation plan is approved.

Must be in specified format and include all required information.

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TIG Evaluation Plan Webpage

TIG Evaluation Plan Webpage:

http://tig.lsc.gov/evaluation.php

Information about evaluation plan requirements and approval processes

Links to all instructional and guidance information

Link to automated evaluation plan form on the LawHelp Interactive server : Activated Wednesday, May 12, 2010.

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The Evaluation Plan: An Essential Management Tool for Maximizing Project Effectiveness

Specifies project’s: Goals and objectives Activities and strategies that will be implemented to achieve

the goals and objectives Methodologies and data sets that will be used to assess and

document the project’s accomplishments.

Provides framework for monitoring project implementation and results

Identifies and facilitates collection of data required for the TIG Final Report (and other fundraising).

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TIG Evaluation Plan Submission & Approval Process

Automated form produces Word document.

Plan submitted in Word format to Bristow Hardin (hardinb@lsc.gov.)

If changes are required for plan approval, LSC staff will notify the grantee via email of the needed changes.

Grantee then submits revised plan to Bristow Hardin for review and approval.

LSC notifies grantee via email when plan approved and provides copy of the approved plan.

Grantee uploads approved plan to milestone reporting system

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Evaluation Plan Contents:Administrative Information

Grantee Name

TIG Grant Number

Submission Date: Date evaluation plan submitted to LSC.

Approval Date: LSC will enter; this is the date plan is formally approved by LSC.

Contact Person: Individuals LSC should contact with questions, etc., about the plan. (Not grantee executive director unless they helped develop plan.)

Email address(s) & Phone number(s): for contact person(s)

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Evaluation Plan Contents:Substantive Elements

Goal Statement

Objectives

Strategies and activities implemented to achieve each objective

Evaluation methodologies/data sets to assess & document progress toward each objective

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Evaluation Plan Contents:Goals and Objectives

Goals and objectives both articulate what project managers hope to achieve, but …

Goals specify project’s broad and long term intended results for (or impact on) a specified target population.

vs.

Objectives more specific, concrete, short-term and measurable – identify the project “deliverables” and provide measures to assess a project’s achievements.

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Evaluation Plan:Differences between Goals & Objectives

Goals Objectives

Broad Narrow and Specific

Long-term Short-term

Abstract Concrete

General intentions Precise

Difficult to Quantify Measurable

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Evaluation Plan Contents:Goals

TIG evaluation plan should contain a single goal statement.

Goal statement identifies the technolog(ies) or technology system(s) that the grantee proposes to develop

Identifies in broad terms how the system(s) will increase the quality/quantity of client services and/or enhance the grantee’s operational effectiveness/efficiency.

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Evaluation Plan Contents:Objectives

Plan will have multiple objectives.

Objectives Specify the extent to which and ways the project

technology(ies) or technology system(s) will enhance client services and/or program operations.

Provide the measurable criteria project managers will use to assess and document a project’s accomplishments.

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Evaluation Plan Contents:Strategies and Activities

Evaluation Plan must identify the one or more major strategies and activities that will be undertaken to achieve each of the project objectives.

Typically, multiple strategies and activities for each objective. Activities flow logically from and be directly related to the

objectives. Some strategies or activities can correspond to more than

one objective. If so, place these in field(s) for each of the objectives to which they correspond.

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Evaluation Plan Contents:Evaluation Methodologies and Data

Plan should identify the evaluation method(s) and specific data set(s) used to assess and document the project’s progress in achieving each objective (or significant activities/strategies).

Three broad types of evaluation data: Administrative Surveys Interviews and other qualitative data

The most effective evaluations will use a combination of these data types.

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Evaluation Methodologies and Data Sets:Administrative Data – Benefits

Critical quantitative or qualitative data regarding program operations

Easy and inexpensive to obtain – generated and compiled as part of routine program operations

Readily available from a variety of sources.

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Evaluation Methodologies and Data Sets:Administrative Data – Examples

Case management or intake system data re: number, demographic characteristics, residence of clients served

Data re: outreach activities conducted, number and types of training provided, number of persons trained.

Information from partners’ or other data bases 1. Law Help Interactive data re: use of HotDocs automated forms 2. WebTrends or similar data re: document downloads 3. Court information from courts re: number of pro se filings

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Evaluation Methodologies and Data Sets:Surveys

Relatively quick and easy way to collect uniform data Can be tailored to different groups, e.g., clients,

advocates, other program staff Low demands on respondents – brief, focused

question formats Provide quantitative data easy to compile and analyze On-line survey tools (e.g., Poverty Law Survey Tool,

SurveyMonkey) for survey design, administration and data compilation and analysis

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Evaluation Methodologies and Data Sets:Interviews and other Qualitative Data

Data from in-depth interviews complement data from other data sources

Provide more in-depth and specific information than surveys

Direct observation also valuable. Example: Observing clients’ attempts to find information on a

website reveals ways to improve a website’s usability.

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Use of the Automated Form

Link to the form from the TIG website:

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Saving and Editing the Form

After You Complete the form save as answer file

Can return to edit, add information, etc.

Submit completed form to LSC