As you become familiar
with CIPMS and its
various concepts,
you will notice
many
similarities
to outcomes-based evaluation. In fact,
if you have already
been implementing
this type of program
evaluation, you are
well on your way to
understanding and
incorporating CIPMS
in your agency.
The logic model also shows the shift in focus that CIPMS is bringing. The activities that we are involved in are not changing, but we are shifting our focus from simply monitoring those activities to measuring the results that we are achieving. Therefore, the emphasis will be on our learners – who they are and what they achieve and how we help them realize their goals. We can see this in the middle and bottom sections of the diagram, i.e., the “core business results” and the “program results”.
For those of you who are familiar with outcomes-based evaluation, where logic models are used regularly, the term “core business” equates to “activities”, “core business results” equates to “outputs” and “program results” equates to “outcomes”. As you become familiar with CIPMS and its various concepts, you will notice many similarities to outcomes-based evaluation. In fact, if you have already been implementing this type of program evaluation, you are well on your way to understanding and incorporating CIPMS in your agency.
If you are not familiar with outcomes-based evaluation, be sure to visit CLO’s Literacy Basics Evaluation module at www.nald.ca/literacybasics. That module provides an overview of outcomes-based evaluation as well as links to many resources including The United Way’s well-known resource Measuring Program Outcomes: A Practical Approach (2006) which is available through your local United Way.
MTCU has already provided some of the components for a fully functional CIPMS, and they will be giving us more (including the Agency Assessment Guide and Tool included with this manual), but literacy agencies have some flexibility as to how to incorporate the various components into their programs. Throughout this manual, and in our Literacy Basics online module (www.nald.ca/literacybasics), we will be sharing samples of tools and resources already developed in the literacy field and that a number of programs have generously offered to share with the field. You can choose to use these resources "as is", you can adapt them to suit your program's specific needs, or you can create something completely new. Of course, you may prefer to use what you already have in your agency, provided it helps you collect and analyze data for CIPMS purposes.
CIPMS is a framework for program measurement and management within a system of continuous improvement.
1 CIPMS is a system for managing performance. This includes agency assessment and an evaluation framework. (An evaluation framework is the collection of models, processes and tools that help agencies provide consistent quality service to clients and the community.)
Performance management is the use of performance measurement information to help set agreed upon performance goals, allocate and prioritize resources, inform managers to either confirm or change current policy or program directions to meet those goals, and report on the success in meeting these goals. Endnote 16