Process B. Describe Program Design

Every environmental education program is designed based on a theory of creating change, whether explicitly stated or not. Understanding a program’s design is key to developing meaningful, realistic evaluations. When you work alongside staff, partners, and participants to describe the program design, you are better able to unearth assumptions and ensure your evaluation meets the various interests of staff, partners, participants, and funders. A collaborative and fluid approach to describing program models centers eeVAL values of authentic engagement and evaluation as an ongoing journey.

eeVAL Tips to Describe Program Design

B1. Explain the Program Design

Several models exist for building consensus and communicating program design for evaluation. You might use a Theory of Change, Logic Model, and/or Results Chain to expose assumptions and clarify outcomes. The resources listed below offer a starting point to explain relationships among programmatic resources, activities and impacts. Select and apply the model that best suits the program’s intent and context, as well as the interests of partners, participants, and community members.

B2. Engage Community Partners

Engage staff, community partners, and participants in creating and reviewing your program design to create a shared understanding of how the program strategies meet the interests of different audiences or may lead to intended and unintended outcomes. This grounds the design and intended outcomes in the community context, cultures, and values. Doing so contributes to program outcomes that are relevant, meaningful, and equitable.

B3. Be Thoughtful About Stated Program Outcomes

Environmental education outcomes can be as varied as the programs and communities they engage. The best program outcomes align with your program activities, available resources, and the interests of your staff, partners, participants, and funders. Write desired outcomes in clear terms, and consider short, medium, and long-term outcomes.

B4. Anticipate Flexible Program Models

Flexible program models are to be expected and should evolve over time as evaluation efforts unfold. An iterative approach demonstrates the eeVAL values of authentic engagement and evaluation as an ongoing journey

Consult these resources that support Program Design:

• Learning for Action’s Environmental Education Better Results Toolkit | Create Your Theory of Change.
• The Urban Institute’s Building Evaluation Capacity, Constructing a Logic Model (pp.7-8)
• Foundations of Success’s Using Results Chains to Improve Strategy Effectiveness: An FOS How-To Guide.
• The W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Practice Guide on Doing Evaluation in Service of Racial Equity: Diagnose Biases and Systems (2021). See Development of a theory of change, logic model and measurement framework that amplify racial equity.
• The W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Practice Guide Series on Doing Evaluation in Service of Racial Equity: A Tool Kit for Practitioners (2024) See slide deck “A Racial Equity Lens from the Get go” that reviews theory of change, logic model considerations to inform evaluation planning, pp. 59-78.