Grant Guru Tip #30:
Two Evaluation Models
This week we will explore two evaluation models, the Log Frame Logic Model and the Concern-Based Adoption Model (CBAM), both of which may assist you in writing an evaluation plan. As you become more familiar with various ways to evaluate programs, these models will become important parts of your grantseeker's toolkit.
Log Frame Logic Model
A log frame model, known as a logic model, is an evaluation model that incorporates continuous improvement, using the goals and objectives of your organization's work plan. The United Way uses this model extensively and more information can be found at < http://national.unitedway.org/outcomes/resources/mpo/ >. The logic model helps paint a picture of how your program will achieve results. The logic model process works at any point in the life of your program, beginning, middle or end. The process helps you and your organization understand and improve your work. Logic models have you systematically catalogue your resources and your actions that you think you will need to reach intended results. The next step requires you to document any connections among your resources, activities and your expected results. From here, you are able to describe your anticipated results in terms of measurable and specific timed outcomes. However, you do this in reverse. Your first step is to determine the outcomes and your intended results. These outcomes are both short and long term, along with the milestone points where you will measure your progress. The W. K. Kellogg Foundation suggests that outcomes should be SMART – Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic and Timed. For more information, refer to Chapter 2: Developing a Basic Logic Model for Your Program. You can find this on the web at < http://www.publichealth.arizona.edu/chwtoolkit/PDFs/Logicmod/chapter2.pdf >. Additionally, please study the toolkit provided by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation at their website at
CBAM
The Concern-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) is a framework for measuring and determining how practice has taken hold as a result of project professional development by measuring a series of participant concerns. CBAM was first proposed in Taking Charge of Change by Shirley M. Hord, William L. Rutherford, Leslie Huling-Austin, and Gene E. Hall, in 1987, published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. CBAM has been in use for more than 20 years.
CBAM identifies and assess seven stages of concern (awareness, information, personal, management, consequence, collaboration, and refocusing). CBAM helps project planners address where people are and to address their questions prior to having them do what we are asking them to do. For example it is difficult to focus on student learning before teachers are comfortable with strategies and materials. Help over time is crucial as many implementations may take at least three years for early concerns to be resolved. CBAM offers the evaluator a set of tools for understanding and managing change in people.
Many projects will not only measure specific SMART outcomes, but may also look to determine the effectiveness of professional development practices. To bring about change that sticks or takes hold it is necessary to support people in the change process. Change is a process, not an event. Change is an experience that is highly personal as participants grow in their feelings (their stages of concern) and in their skill (their personal levels of use).
You can learn more about CBAM by reading The Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM): A Model for Change in Individuals. This article can be found on The National Academies website, a website that acts as an adviser to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine. Follow this link < http://www.nas.edu/rise/backg4a.htm >. Additional information can be found on the National Staff Development Council's website at < http://www.nsdc.org >. The article CBAM Brings Order to the Tornado of Change can be found at < http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/jsd/horsley194.cfm >.