Janet Clinton (University of Melbourne), Ruth Aston (University of Melbourne), Emily Qing (University of Melbourne), Ghislain Arbour (University of Melbourne), Anne Tonkin (Department of Education and Training), Stephanie Moorhouse (Department of Education and Training)What if an evaluation of the implementation of a policy could generate information about the relationships between interrelated policies, such that governments could identify how implementers can be supported through actionable feedback, to support targeted and responsive policy implementation.
It is this question (among others) that we are tackling in the evaluation of the Differentiated support for school improvement (DSSI) initiatives, funded by the Victorian Government Department of Education and Training. More than ever, public sector policy evaluations need to incorporate the relationships between policies and identify the cumulative and collective influence of multiple policies which may not necessarily be the 'evaluand'.
This panel presentation will discuss;
- Evaluation design for testing intended policy coherence, including fixed and flexible components for repeated measures over time, with responsive measures that adapt to changing information needs
- Multi-purpose measurement model that supports data aggregation, and triangulation across multiple evaluations
- Co-design of the DSSI data portal and facilitating data ownership among the policy implementers
- Functional partnerships between the evaluators and the commissioner
Presenters from the evaluation team (University of Melbourne) and the commissioner (Department of Education and Training), will discuss the methodological and practical considerations for the design of evaluations that include gathering progressive large-scale mixed implementation and impact data, to generate regular and tailored feedback. We will discuss how we are embracing disruption using a personalised online platform, to facilitate data collection and access to tailored feedback and for users to give feedback. Finally, the presenters will also share findings of how engagement in evaluation can become part of policy implementation, through predicting implementation behaviours and impact.
The session moderator will be Dr Ghislain Arbour, who will pose questions to the panel, and facilitate discussion from the audience. Dr Arbour has considerable expertise and evaluation experience in the public sector.
