What do you do if you're struggling to assess the impact of educational programs?

It can be helpful to start with a goal you are most likely already achieving up to 50% of the time. This will help to increase your chance for success and provide the drive you need for pursuing other goals in the long term. So it's good to consider the question, "What is already working?" when choosing your goal.

Include the E in SMARTE (Equity). Make this collaborative, not top-down! If we don't involve the people doing the work, we are not going to see fidelity of the change throughout our organization.

Conducting pilot programs can be an effective way of obtaining feedback on the effectiveness of an educational program in a particular district or school.

Conduct a survey to find out if the educational programs being offered are impactful. Ideally, this should be done over a long period of time (Years ) in order for the results to be unbiased and true. With results obtained, design impactful educational programs , while having goals and a vision in mind

We have to listen to them and make changes based on their experiences. Meet and talk. Allow those teachers to observe other teachers who are successful so they can learn and grow.

I am in the field of education. I think the best way to assess this is by interviewing former students and their employers to see how they value education your institution and department provided.

You can ask people to try to implement your program or part of it if possible. They can then provide testimonials. They could be also interviewed and you can analyze the qualitative data for a qualitative research study.

Assess the impact of educational programs by prioritizing the use of metrics to inform decisions. Define clear objectives and outcomes for each program to measure success effectively. Utilize quantitative data such as standardized test scores, attendance rates, and graduation rates to gauge academic progress and student engagement. Additionally, collect qualitative feedback through surveys, interviews, and focus groups to understand the program's perceived impact on students, parents, and staff. Regularly analyze and interpret data to identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. Collaborate with colleagues, administrators, and stakeholders to establish benchmarks and goals for continuous program evaluation and refinement.

Reflect on how the initiative was implemented. Did it follow implementation science? (probably not, since this is something relatively new to education). This means - you planned collaboratively with some of the people using the new initiative, you planned exactly what teachers were going to do and what students were going to be able to do, along with celebrations, and you met regularly with the people who were doing the work (the teachers) and listened to their perspectives. Too often this doesn't occur. If you need tools, let me know @Enlightening Leadership; I can help.