Evaluating Training and Technical Assistance

Outcomes are the desired measurable changes in efficiency or effectiveness that are meaningful to the client. In the early stages of developing a training or technical assistance program, outcomes become goals or hypotheses as to the impact you hope to have on your client. When evaluating for results, an organization should revisit the long-term outcomes identified in their logic model, and consider ways to evaluate these outcomes.

Performance measures are the data points that support the achievement of a larger outcome. While an outcome generally represents a larger goal or aim for the organization, performance measures are the concrete factors that are assumed to quantitatively measure the established outcome.

Level 4 evaluations are compelling. Evaluating for results helps to affirm that your organization’s efforts were well spent, that your clients came away with meaningful knowledge that motivated them to change their behavior, and that this behavior change led to improvements in the way they do business.

Because results are so compelling, it is important that your organization be able to show the link between your services and each level of client evaluation. If your organization has not taken the time to make level 2 and level 3 evaluations a priority, it will be hard to make the case that your client’s successes can be attributed to the training and technical assistance opportunities you provided.

While all evaluation processes require you to make assumptions, effective evaluation of all four levels will make it far easier to correlate the activities and outputs your organization provides with the positive results of your clients. Keep in mind that correlation does not imply direct causation. In order to prove direct causation, an organization will need to take part in experimental research and a controlled study to link training and technical assistance to results.