Teaching Program Evaluation to Public Administration Students in a Single Course: An Experiential Solution

Abstract

Although program evaluation can be a key skill of public management, most MPA programs can offer only a single course in it. The literature regarding program evaluation training stresses that good program evaluation education needs to incorporate a field experience, but many argue that actual program evaluation cannot be done in a semester-long introductory course. Here the authors present an outline that teaches students basic program evaluation skills and allows small student teams to complete program evaluations within a single sixteen-week course. Evidence of success includes student identification of the evaluations as the most valuable part of the course, agency satisfaction with evaluation products, and the placement of several students as professional evaluators.