The job training program serves unemployed and underemployed residents of the community by providing skills training, career coaching, and job placement support. The program aims to empower participants with skills and experience to obtain living-wage jobs and economic stability. Its goals are to enroll 100 participants annually, achieve an 80% program completion rate, and support 60% of graduates in finding employment. The program plays an essential role in the community by creating economic opportunities. As the program approaches its 5-year mark, it is an opportune time to conduct a comprehensive evaluation to assess its outcomes and impacts. The review will help ensure the program is effective and equitable by identifying strengths to build on and areas for improvement (Santiko et al., 2022).
Deliverables
The evaluation will result in the following deliverables: An evaluation report that synthesizes findings across all quantitative and qualitative data sources. The report will analyze the program’s outcomes and impacts, answer key evaluation questions, and provide prioritized recommendations. A presentation that highlights key findings and recommendations for stakeholders, including program leadership and staff, organizational leadership, funders, and community partners. An evaluation brief or one-pager with high-level takeaways from the evaluation for dissemination to wider stakeholders and the public.
Timeline
The proposed timeline for conducting the evaluation is:
Weeks 1-4: Meet with stakeholders to finalize the evaluation plan and develop evaluation tools
Weeks 5-12: Collect quantitative and qualitative data
Weeks 13-15: Analyze data and draft evaluation report
Week 16: Finalize the report and deliver the presentation
Week 17: Finalize and disseminate the evaluation brief
The timeframe from start to finish is approximately five months. Check-in meetings will be scheduled periodically with the program director to provide updates and assess emerging needs.
Evaluation Process
A robust mixed-methods evaluation design will be utilized to understand the job training program from multiple stakeholder perspectives comprehensively. Quantitative data will be collected from the program’s management information system, including indicators of enrollments, retention, completion rates, job placement rates, starting wages, and participant demographics. These performance measures of the program’s goals and benchmarks will be analyzed to quantify outcomes. An online survey will be conducted with graduates to gather perceptions of program quality, preparedness for employment, barriers faced, and overall satisfaction. Descriptive statistical analysis will identify trends in participants’ experiences and outcomes.
Qualitative data will come from 90-minute focus groups conducted with program graduates to allow for open dialogue about their experiences in the program, its strengths and weaknesses, recommendations for improvement, and its impact on their lives. Individual interviews with current program staff and instructors will collect input on what they see as working well versus challenges in service delivery, curriculum, operations, and external partnerships. Interviews with HR managers at partner employers will add their perspectives on the preparedness of graduates placed at their companies, skill levels, areas for additional training, and supervisor feedback.
The quantitative and qualitative data will be triangulated and synthesized to develop meta-inferences about the program’s overall effectiveness and equity. Connections between statistical outcomes and stakeholder perspectives will be analyzed to provide greater depth and understanding. For example, completion rates will be considered alongside participant feedback on barriers faced. Job placement success will be interpreted through employer interviews on skill levels and supervisor evaluations. All data will be disaggregated by participant demographics, including race, gender, age, education level, employment history and other variables to assess outcomes for specific subgroups. Recommendations will be prioritized based on the frequency and urgency of issues identified across data sources. This robust mixed-methods approach will allow data integration and synthesis to answer the evaluation questions fully and derive practical recommendations.
Intended Use and Users
The evaluation will support ongoing program improvement, accountability, and strategic decision-making. Primary users include The program director and staff, who will use findings to inform enhancements to service delivery, curriculum, hiring, partnerships, and operations. Organization leadership will incorporate results into more significant strategic planning about expanding, reducing, or reconfiguring the program—funders who will utilize the evaluation to make decisions about continued funding and potential replication or scale-up. Secondary users include Job training partners who can apply lessons learned to strengthen alignment and collaboration—community stakeholders who are invested in the program’s success and economic outcomes. Prospective participants to understand program offerings, outcomes, and fit.
Rationale
Conducting a comprehensive process and outcome evaluation at the 5-year mark is imperative to assess the job training program’s effectiveness and equity in serving the community. The mixed-methods design will ensure the collection of sufficient quantitative and qualitative data from diverse stakeholder groups to paint a holistic picture of program strengths and weaknesses. The evaluation can produce meaningful, actionable recommendations to improve outcomes by centring on stakeholder involvement and utilization. Investing in this evaluation demonstrates the organization’s commitment to providing the highest quality programs that make a real difference for the community.
Reference
Ju, B., & Li, J. (2019). Exploring the impact of training, job tenure, and education-job and skills-job matches on employee turnover intention. European Journal of Training and Development, 43(3/4), 214-231.
Santiko, I., Wijaya, A. B., & Hamdi, A. (2022). Smart Campus Evaluation Monitoring Model Using Rainbow Framework Evaluation and Higher Education Quality Assurance Approach. Journal of Information Systems and Informatics, 4(2), 336-348.
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