Evaluating parent education programs presents both challenges and opportunities. This content will provide a starting point for program staff and administrators to begin thinking about evaluation in terms of how it can improve their current programming as well as demonstrate outcomes to decision makers. Although the information and resources on these pages focuses mainly on group parent education, the information can also be applied to other parenting education settings.

Suggestions for Evaluating Parent Education Programs

Shannon N. Rader, MA
Betty Cooke, PhD

A Brief Introduction to Evaluation.
This is a good place to start. It includes definitions of evaluation key terms, standards for evaluation, and steps in designing an evaluation. Logic models are described as a promising tool for evaluation.
Parent Education Core Curriculum Framework and Indicators
The Parent Education Core Curriculum Framework and Indicators
The Five-Tiered Approach to Evaluating Family Programs (Weiss & Jacobs, 1988).
This is a framework for understanding, organizing, and planning evaluation activities and data collection methods.
References and Resources for Evaluating Parent Education Programs.
This has an extensive, but not exhaustive, list of potential resources for evaluating parent education programs. A draft of the Parent Education Core curriculum, examples of classroom and program satisfaction surveys, and possible tools to measure parent change over time are noted. This page also has links to other resources and web pages about evaluation.

The content of this website resulted from a presentation given at the Parent Education Institute V on May 21, 2005. Presenters included Betty Cooke, Minnesota Department of Education; Shannon Rader, University of Minnesota PhD student in Program Evaluation; Sue Stoner, Moundsview, Minnesota Early Childhood Family Education Coordinator; and Beth Yokom, Mounsdview Early Childhood Family Education Parent Educator.