The Benefits of Program Evaluations, Essay Example

Program evaluation is a tool used by many individuals within the educational and many employment environments. Program evaluation has been put into place within these environments so administrators, managers, students, and employees can see how they are doing within the system based on customer responses. These customer responses allow the company to see and understand what they are doing well and what needs improvement. Many of these evaluations are done by questionnaires or surveys. In the case of learning, there is a lot of evidence that suggests the benefits of program evaluation for learners, facilitators, and the agencies that financially underwrite the programs.

Program evaluations satisfy the learners by providing specific benefits for them. Learners are able to fill out these evaluations to give feedback to their facilitators and to others about the ways in which the programs are working or not working. By giving their specific answers to the questions listed on the evaluations, the learners feel as if they have an opportunity to be heard and are more likely to enjoy what they are doing because of it. These evaluations help the learners understand what the company’s main focuses are and can be a part of improving them and giving them praise for a job well done. These help the learners give their opinion and force the facilitators to recognize what needs more planning, priority, and strategy.

Program evaluations satisfy the facilitators by providing specific benefits for them. These evaluations enable them to see what is working and what is not. It shows them what things are good and what things need improvement within the program. By seeing these evaluations, the facilitators are able to connect with their students and learn what these students are looking for in a program and in a facilitator. This brings a specific relationship into play as they begin to understand their students. Most importantly, the evaluations give the facilitator an idea of how successful the program is and what it is teaching the people it intends to teach.

Finally, program evaluations satisfy the agencies that financially underwrite the programs by providing specific benefits for them as well. These agencies are able to see which programs are working based on the responses from the evaluations. They are able to understand what is happening and what needs to be done so that they can and will continue to provide the funding for these programs. No agency is going to fund a program that is not working. Therefore, through these evaluations, these agencies are able to see which programs should still get funding and which ones just aren’t making it. However, these agencies are able to see what is going on with the programs too and would be able to help the facilitators with specific areas if need be. If they need to focus on something specific, they can.

In conclusion, program evaluations can be a good thing or a bad thing. Mostly, they are beneficial for learners, facilitators, and the agencies that underwrite the funding for specific programs. Each person learns something different through program evaluations and that is exactly what they are intended for when doing them. They provide learners the opportunity to have their voices heard. They provide the facilitators with feedback in order to fix the areas that are not doing well. These evaluations also provide the agencies with information as well in relation to funding and whether they should continue to finance the programs. Most importantly, everyone, through program evaluations is able to learn how the program is doing and see which areas need improvement.