When you get your evaluation results, it is often a good idea to revisit your logic model—and perhaps even your theory of change—to look at your activities and intended goals. If your evaluation results show that you did not have the effects you were hoping for or that your program quality is not where you want it, it may be time to change your activities or your program plan.

Sometimes, the findings from your evaluation are not entirely clear or not what you hoped for or expected. Other times, the findings can be overwhelming, and they may suggest dozens of things to fix and improve. When it is time to sit down with staff members to review the evaluation results and make decisions about improvements, it can be a good idea to have your evaluator (if you have one) or someone knowledgeable about the evaluation to sit with you to explain the findings, identify the key points, and help narrow down the planned reaction. Most likely you won’t be able to address everything that was derived from the evaluation. Begin with recognizing the strengths and positive findings; then work with your staff or advisory board to identify two or three short-term goals and two or three long-term goals to address and brainstorm potential solutions. Be concrete. For example, don’t just note that the evaluation showed program attendance was low in academic activities and high in sports programs. Discuss as a team why that might be the case, identify one or two specific steps to address that problem (e.g., allow young people to attend the sports program only if they have attended the academic program first) and assign specific staff members the task of implementing the action steps. Use Tool 92: Post-Evaluation Planning Tool to identify your short- and long-term goals and assign staff members and deadlines for each action step.

After you have developed an action plan based on your evaluation, don’t leave it at that. Revisit the plan every couple of months to make sure everyone is still on task with the short- and long-term goals. Identify any challenges that have come up. Determine whether new concerns or areas need attention in addition to the action steps you identified based on the evaluation. If possible, review your data to see if the short-term changes you have made are improving your targeted problem areas. If we take the previous example, for instance, you could collect data on attendance for your sports programs and academic programs after implementing your new attendance policy to see whether your change is having the intended effect. If it is, great! If it isn’t, revisit your strategy and determine whether new action needs to be taken.