Resources

The Expert Panel Project Team at AIFS have published this instructional video to guide you through measuring for outcomes. It explain why and how we want to measure outcomes to demonstrate impact in child and family services. This video also guides you how to choose which short, medium and long term outcomes to measure given limited resources.

The Expert Panel Project Team at AIFS have published this instructional video to guide you through program logic models. It guides you step-by-step through the terminology of program logic models, and how to build your own model, including writing a problem statement, understanding inputs and outputs, and identifying short, medium and long term outcomes.

This new toolkit from SNAICC gives fantastic guidance on designing and measuring for outcomes in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child and family services. It compiles an insightful list of 21 key outcomes for this sector, drawn from the 8 key principles of The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child and Family Services Wellbeing Framework. It also features a detailed, yet accessible, step-by-step guide to help you develop a theory of change to support and measure for outcomes. This toolkit centres on evaluation work in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child and family services, but its clear and concise explanation of how to use outcomes, an outcomes framework, and a theory of change will be relevant and useful to many workers across the wider child and family services sector.

This guide was designed by British Overseas NGOs for Development (BOND) to support NGOs to assess and improve the quality of evidence in evaluation reports.

The Australian Institute of Family Studies has released its final evaluation report on the impact of the Australian Government’s Child Care Package. The evaluation found that the Child Care Subsidy reduced the net cost of child care for 62.2 per cent of families using child care, with low-income families amongst those who benefit most. It also found that beyond the subsidy, the package has had limited impact despite its intention to see improvements in areas such as access and employment outcomes.

The UK Department for Education has published an overview of the evaluation of the children’s social care innovation program in England 2014 to 2016. The report includes findings from project evaluations that show reductions in children entering care, children living in residential care and increased reunification with birth families. From these evaluations, a number of recommendations for best practice emerge, including the adoption of a family focused, strengths-based approach that supports families to take responsibility for their own lives; multi-professional teams including workers in family violence, mental health and drug and alcohol; and a ‘key worker’ to provide consistency.

Clear Horizon offers a range of tools and resources specific to monitoring and evaluation to measure the impact and achievement of project outcomes. These include the Most Significant Change Technique and Collaborative Outcomes Reporting.

Watch Dr. Kim Sabo Flores, a youth participatory evaluation expert based in the US, talking about the need to create environments which ignite learning and development in young people.

Evaluators may come across situations where they have to work in a cultural context other than of their own. Culturally competent evaluators not only respect the cultures represented in the evaluation but recognize their own ‘culturally based assumptions’; take into account the ‘differing world view of evaluation stakeholders and target communities’ and select culturally appropriate evaluation options and strategies.

This overview from Better Evaluation looks at the basics of Developmental Evaluation. Developmental Evaluation is an approach that can be used effectively when there is no clear model to evaluate due to a complex and dynamic environment - such as a global health emergency like COVID-19. This resource outlines the basics of this approach and how it can be utilised to develop a continuous improvement loop that supports innovation and adaptation in a changing environment.

This guide from the Department of Health and Human Services (2017) is designed to support staff in the planning and commissioning of an evaluation. It is suitable for anyone responsible for program development, implementation or evaluation.

Watch Dr. Kim Sabo Flores talking about her work, where she emphasises that best youth programs do not just build on youth’s strengths or assets. Instead they supply them with opportunities to explore entirely new ways of being in the world, to create new roles, new attitudes, and new actions. In this video, she also talks about creative activities to involve young people in evaluation.

This is a practitioner resource by Stewart Muir and Adam Dean outlining some of the key considerations for organisations who are thinking about evaluating the outcomes or impact of a program for Indigenous families or communities.

This blog from Blue Marble Evaluation reflects on how we should approach evaluation during the COVID-19 emergency. It highlights the importance of adapting to developmental evaluation practices, pursuing systematic thinking and working collaboratively with others to produce high quality data during this challenging and fascinating period.

RMIT University has released this report evaluating the IFAS pilot program delivered by Victoria Legal Aid. IFAS provides non-legal advocacy and support to parents and primary carers who are involved in the investigation stage of the child protection system with the primary aim of diverting families from the child protection system. The evaluation found a high level of satisfaction among clients and estimates that 20 per cent of clients are diverted from court. A cost-benefit analysis found that around $3.52 is saved by the Victorian Government for every $1 spent on IFAS.

This video provides an overview of the online platform Hello Insight, which helps youth development programs evaluate and respond to what young people need through online surveys and real time data analysis. The overview is provided by the founder of the platform, Dr Kim Sabo Flores, who has a long history conducting and championing youth participatory evaluation practice.

The Smith Family has released this evaluation of The Catch-Up Learning pilot program, a 20-week online tutoring program delivered one-on-one by qualified teachers for financially disadvantaged students struggling with literacy and numeracy. The evaluation assessed the program’s impact on student engagement and the extent to which literacy and numeracy improved. It found that 86 per cent of students showed above expected progress in either literacy or numeracy, and the program strengthened students’ love of learning. Four small modifications were identified that could strengthen the program and student outcomes moving forward.

The Life Changes Trust Evaluation Toolkit provides a range of resources across the journey to better outcomes including creating a theory of change and program logic, designing an evaluation and methods for collecting data.

This report provides guidelines for researchers and stakeholders to ensure their work is safe, respectful, responsible, high quality and of benefit to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities.

High quality data can help us understand if we are on track, and if clients are benefiting as they would like to. If you are responsible for collecting data for evaluation there is lots to consider, including respecting client confidentiality, being cautious of potential power imbalances and accommodating for diverse literacy levels. Ensuring that methods and tools are fit for purpose and our processes are ethical is essential. Become familiar with the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007) – Updated 2018.

This webinar examined the role of evaluation questions in framing outcomes measurement, data collection methods, analysis, synthesis, rubrics as well as how to report on outcomes using dashboards. The slides for this webinar have been uploaded as an additional resource.

This webinar examined the role of evaluation questions in framing outcomes measurement, data collection methods, analysis, synthesis, rubrics as well as how to report on outcomes using dashboards. The slides for this webinar are also available as a separate resource.

This webinar explored how we measure outcomes providing tips on how to select indicators and targets and how to identify different methods to collect data. The slides for this webinar have been uploaded as an additional resource.

This webinar explored how we measure outcomes providing tips on how to select indicators and targets and how to identify different methods to collect data.

The final webinar for this series discussed the role of evaluative thinking – what happened, so what, now what – in learning and reflection and how to reflect on and apply learning through workshops, feedback loops and sprints. The slides for this webinar have been uploaded as an additional resource.

The final webinar for this series discussed the role of evaluative thinking – what happened, so what, now what – in learning and reflection and how to reflect on and apply learning through workshops, feedback loops and sprints.

Developed by Scott Miller PhD, psychologist and co-founder of the International Center for Clinical Excellence and the Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change, The Outcome Rating Scale (ORS) and Session Rating Scale (SRS) are brief measures for tracking client functioning and the quality of the therapeutic alliance. Each instrument takes less than a minute for clients to complete and for clinicians to score and interpret. Versions of the scales are available for adults, children, adolescents in 18 different languages.

In this presentation, Melanie Ashman and Kerry Brogan from the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA) spoke about the development and implementation of a culturally appropriate Evaluation Framework. VACCA’s process is Aboriginal led and privileges the voices of Aboriginal practitioners and clients. Their Evaluation Framework foregrounds culturally specific outcomes to ensure that evaluations measure what is most important to the Aboriginal Community to build an evidence base of effective programs and practices.

Published by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS), the Protecting Australia's Children: Research and Evaluation Register is a searchable database of 943 research and evaluation projects conducted between 2011 and 2015. The Register provides a range of filtering options to enable easy access to recent research in the area of child protection.

ANROWS has released this research report as part of the What works: Overviews of reviews series. It examines the effectiveness of respectful relationships and bystander programs in schools and tertiary education settings. The overview of the evidence from systematic reviews found promising results in the areas of improving attitudes and increasing knowledge, however the results were mixed when considering whether the programs reduced violence. The report contains key factors associated with increased effectiveness.

This online seminar from the Centre for Evaluation and Research Evidence (CERE) and DHHS looks at the impact of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. This seminar features multiple presentations, covering the topics of performing rapid evaluations of telehealth, telehealth for Indigenous health and rural healthcare delivery and how to embed telehealth in the healthcare system.

The Australian Centre for Social Innovation (TACSI) has a range of useful tools for co-design including a webinar exploring what is human centred design, and what does it take to do well?

This poster is a handy print-out for your office or desk for reference when designing a new approach, helping to make sure you don't miss out on any key design ingredients!

UNICEF developed this toolkit in 2005 to increase young people's participation in evaluation of projects in Europe and Central Asia. There are a number of evaluation tools/methods with ethical and practical guidelines to engage children and young people. There are also a number of energizers and ice-breakers to facilitate group sessions with children and young people where they can safely voice their opinions. Each tool and activity has a detailed set of instructions to guide the facilitator through the process.

This webinar from the Victorian Public Service Evaluation Network 'Lunch and Learn' series featured presentations from Helen Casey (Department of Justice and Community Safety) and Jacqueline Storey and Sharika Jeyakumar (Victoria Legal Aid) speaking about the importance of lived experience and client voice in their evaluation practice, with a focus on family violence as a case study for their reflections. Click the external link to view a video recording of this session, or use the download link to access the presentation slides.

Practice First is a child protection service delivery model introduced by the NSW Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) in 2012. The model aimed to improve systems, practices and culture relating to assessment, decision-making and support of children reported at risk of significant harm (ROSH). This snapshot provides a summary of the findings from the formal evaluation of Practice First. The evaluation found that Practice First has enabled a shift in organisational culture towards more child-centred practice and improved engagement with children, carers and agencies.

This practical toolkit is designed to engage young people to evaluate and measure the impact of youth projects. It has been developed by Evaluation Access using resources and activities from Girl Scouts of the United States of America, the National 4-H Council, and the National FFA Organization. There are a number of creative activities and handouts to support young people to plan, develop, and implement community projects.

This guide has a series of “tip sheets” that identify practical ways to conduct a youth-adult partnership evaluation project. The tip sheets talk about various “leverage points” or those key processes and moments in implementation that can influence the outcomes of projects. It also provides tips on creating a culture of evaluation in an organisation, developing the right evaluation questions and practical and youth-friendly data collection/analysis strategies.