Program Monitoring

Program Monitoring

Program Monitoring reviews performance data in order to evaluate the effectiveness of programs and to identify areas with potential for improvement.

Tools & Tips

Using Logic Models for Program Planning and Evaluation

Logic models provide an approach for program planning, management, monitoring, and evaluation. They present a concise, graphic depiction of what a process, project, program, or system comprises and what it is intended to do. At the state and local program levels, logic models can be useful in planning initiatives, monitoring performance and data management, and evaluating effectiveness. It illustrates which resources are needed to provide activities that will produce results that lead to desired outcomes. The Using Logic Models for Program Planning and Evaluation tool provides an overview of logic models, an explanation of its components, and an example of how it can be used to evaluate adult education program activities.

NRS Tips: Desk Monitoring

Desk monitoring is an effective and efficient way to assist states in meeting their monitoring needs. It provides an approach to reviewing and tracking program performance by using quantitative data that serves as a supplement to on-site monitoring. Local programs provide data regularly (e.g., monthly, quarterly) to the state office where state staff can review them to guide program review activities, inform technical assistance plans, and promote program improvement. Desk monitoring relies primarily on data that programs already collect and report. It is inexpensive to implement and, once established, requires little additional burden to local programs. Based on research and ideas from state and local program staff, the NRS project team created a list of desk monitoring tips.

Webinars

Data Dashboards

In this webinar, our NRS support project dashboard expert and staff from Los Angeles United School District discussed the benefits of data dashboards for adult education programs.

Beyond NRS Data

States and programs collect data for the NRS about their students’ demographics and performance that can help them understand who participates in their adult education programs. However, the NRS data don’t tell the whole story. There are other data sources that can be used to get a clearer picture of the students in adult education and what we can do to better support them. In this webinar, staff from Indiana and Kentucky discussed how they use data from other sources to complement the data collected for the purposes of the NRS, including what prompted these states to look beyond the NRS data, how they identified these data sources, and how they use these data to improve their programs’ effectiveness and support their learners. 

Webinar Presentation Video is available upon request by emailing nrs@air.org

Infographics

Infographics are visual representations of information, data, or knowledge intended to present complex information quickly and clearly. In this webinar, state and local program staff from Kansas, Kentucky, and Utah shared how they have used infographics to effectively communicate information, discussing how these infographics were created, how they have been used, and what the effect has been so far.