United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2002-09-30 monographic deposited born digital GA 1.13:GAO-02-923 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-923 P0b002ee18038dc8a f:d02923 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-923 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-923 GAO-02-923 Evaluation criteria Program evaluation Agency evaluation Agency missions Government information dissemination Dept. of Education Dwight D. Eisenhower Professional Development Program Other Written Product A05203

Federal agencies are increasingly expected to focus on achieving results and to demonstrate, in annual performance reports and budget requests, how their activities will help achieve agency or governmentwide goals. Assessing a program's impact or benefit is often difficult, but the dissemination programs GAO reviewed faced a number of evaluation challenges--either individually or in common. The breadth and flexibility of some of the programs made it difficult to measure national progress toward common goals. The programs had limited opportunity to see whether desired behavior changes occurred because change was expected after people made contact with the program, when they returned home or to work. The five programs GAO reviewed addressed these challenges with a variety of strategies, assessing program effects primarily on short-term and intermediate outcomes. Two flexible programs developed common measures to conduct nationwide evaluations; two others encouraged communities to tailor local evaluations to their own goals. Congressional interest was key to initiating most of these evaluations; collaboration with program partners, previous research, and evaluation expertise helped carry them out. Congressional concern about program effectiveness spurred two formal evaluation mandates and other program activities. Collaborations helped ensure that an evaluation would meet the needs of diverse stakeholders. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-923/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-923.htm GAO-02-923 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-02-923 Other Written Product GAO-02-923; Program Evaluation: Strategies for Assessing How Information Dissemination Contributes to Agency Goals; Evaluation criteria Program evaluation Agency evaluation Agency missions Government information dissemination Dept. of Education Dwight D. Eisenhower Professional Development Program Title 44 Section 3501 44 U.S.C. 3501 Volume 108 Page 3518 108 Stat. 3518 Volume 112 Page 523 112 Stat. 523 Public Law 103-382 Public Law 105-185