Measure and Maximize Your Impact
Competency in program evaluation has become an essential skill and need within both the private and public sectors, especially for those in educational, health and human services settings. With limited resources, funders are increasingly viewing their financial support as “investments.” They are requiring evidence that the organizations whose programs and policies they are funding are wise stewards of resources, are delivering on their goals and are maximizing the returns on investments. Organizations must be able to not just measure impact, but to maximize their program impact as well. In this competitive funding landscape, program evaluations are now a required component for securing grants.
Students in this graduate certificate program will gain a competitive edge and improve their marketability in this high-demand area. This program also builds the capabilities of organizations to develop and demonstrate program effectiveness, as well as to leverage external funding opportunities.
Keep Working While You Study
This certificate program equips students with the skills and knowledge to conduct and commission culturally responsive program evaluations through project-based learning. Students will work with their professors to complete real-world program evaluation projects.
Courses for this 9-month certificate program are offered entirely online with both asynchronous lectures and synchronous weekly discussions in the evenings.
Program Learning Outcomes:
Students who earn a Graduate Certificate in Program Evaluation at EWU will:
- Demonstrate a foundational knowledge of evaluation-specific concepts, methods, research and theories
- Demonstrate a foundational competency in quantitative data analysis
- Apply evaluation knowledge in practice, creating and implementing an evaluation plan
- Link program evaluation methods and analyses to foundations in implementation science
- Apply a culturally responsive approach in formulating research questions, methods, and analyses
Benefits You and Your Organization
At the individual level, this Graduate Certificate in Program Evaluation offers a professional and workforce development opportunity that will level-up students’ knowledge and skills in a high-demand area, as well as improve their marketability and career trajectories.
This program also builds the capacities and capabilities of non-profit organizations, governmental agencies and entities that intersect with the grant-writing, grant-making and grant-funding processes, empowering them with the ability to propose, plan, conduct and commission program evaluations to develop effective programs, to inform program improvements and to demonstrate the impacts and return on investments of grant dollars.
Finally, this graduate certificate program will develop a pool of trained program evaluators that will be available in the local community to consult on program evaluation matters, thereby further increasing the program development and evaluation capabilities of organizations in the broader community.
Who Should Apply?
- Agency directors and administrators
- Social and community service managers
- Foundation program officers
- Community organizers and advocates
- K-12 administrators
- Public health administrators
- Anyone tasked with developing, funding, selecting, or assessing programs
