Webinar: Using Evaluation Findings to Improve Service Delivery in Reentry Programs

November 9, 2021

Closed Captioning is available by tapping the CC icon above

Evaluation can help improve and sustain programs; even negative evaluation results can offer opportunities for programs to make changes. Two primary strategies can improve service delivery for reentry programs.

The first strategy is the use of formative and process evaluation—focus groups, interviews, surveys, and quantitative data analysis—to do the following:

Eliminate services or activities that have insurmountable barriers to implementation,
Add or modify services or activities to better achieve intended outcomes,
Acquire more resources to support program services, and
Reconsider program eligibility criteria or recruitment procedures.

The second strategy involves the evaluation of end results using the same formative and process evaluation data, as well as outcome evaluation data (e.g., administrative data on recidivism, self-reported survey data on employment). This strategy will assist with

Identifying the final lessons learned on program implementation,
Interpreting the outcome findings produced from the evaluation, and
Assessing the program's impact on specific outcomes or specific time periods.

This webinar from the Evaluation and Sustainability Training and Technical Assistance (ES TTA) team at RTI International and the Center for Justice Innovation (formerly the Center for Court Innovation) provides strategies for using evaluation data in both a formative manner to guide ongoing, continuous program improvement and a reflective manner to gain deep insights to inform decisions about program sustainability and replication. This webinar also includes a real-world example from the Erie County Jails New Dawn Initiative, which used these techniques to improve service delivery.

Speakers