Evaluation Toolkit

Executive Summary

The Illinois Workforce Innovation Board (IWIB) leads Illinois in the alignment of the workforce, education, and economic development throughout the State. The Evaluation Workgroup of the Continuous Improvement Committee has identified policies, processes, and programs to assess this Evaluation toolkit and provide feedback.  Information regarding the pilots will be listed here as it becomes available.

This Evaluation Toolkit is adapted from the 2020 Department of Labor Evaluation Toolkit: “Key Elements for State Workforce Agencies.” The Evaluation Committee made edits to the Toolkit to make it applicable to programs, policies, and processes throughout the Illinois workforce system.

We welcome your feedback on your experience utilizing this toolkit. Please click here to provide feedback

The purpose of this toolkit is to provide a framework and tools for effective evaluation for statewide workforce programs, policies, and processes across the various Titles. This toolkit uses an equity lens as its foundation based on the IWIB Equity Task Force’s concept of an equity lens. An equitable workforce system is one where diversity, equity, and inclusion are foundational – in which race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, health, ability, and other demographic or geographic characteristics no longer predict one’s outcomes in the labor market. The Annie E. Casey Foundation defines equity as “the state, quality, or ideal of being just, impartial and fair” (2015). The concept of equity is synonymous with fairness and justice. To be achieved and sustained, equity needs to be thought of as a structural and systemic concept.

The Illinois workforce system will apply an equity lens that ensures all individuals have equal dignity, value, and opportunity to participate justly, fairly, and fully in all dimensions of academic, social, civic, and economic life to reach their full potential. Workforce system resources will be distributed in a balanced and fair manner. 

Applying an equity lens to evaluation involves increasing justice and fairness in all policy, processes, and programs – taking into consideration historical and contemporary conditions that create uneven starting points for individuals within the workforce ecosystem and aligning the procedures and processes of institutions or systems, as well as in their distribution of resources, to provide the optimal experience for all individuals to reach one’s full academic, social, civic, and economic potential.

Citation:

Racial Equity & Inclusion Framework. The Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2015, January). Retrieved January 25, 2022, from https://www.aecf.org/resources/race-equity-and-inclusion-action-guide

1. Provide a workable toolkit for evaluation to review programs, policies, and processes across the workforce, education, and economic development system.

2. Analyze evaluation results to determine if results conform to intended outcomes leading to continuous improvement at the local level.

3. Ensure processes remain valid and lead to organizational and management change

This toolkit contains two sets of resources. The first is based on the Department of Labor framework. The second consists of resources to guide evaluation.

The first resource contains the full toolkit. It covers six sections:

Section 1: Executive Summary

Section 2: Introduction to the Framework and Overview of Equity

Section 3: Introduction to Evaluation

Section 4: Logic Models

Section 5: Evaluation Planning

Section 6: Selecting an Evaluator

Section 7: Implementing Evaluation

Section 8: Participant Rights

Section 9: Acronym List

The Evaluation Workgroup of the Continuous Improvement Committee has identified policies, processes, and programs to evaluate this Evaluation toolkit and provide feedback.  Information regarding the pilots will be listed here as it becomes available.

Use this checklist as you create your Evaluation Plan and as you read through the various sections of this toolkit.

A complete evaluation plan should include the items listed in the checklist.  If you find that your evaluation plan does not include the items listed, you can click on the section listed after each item to learn more.  You may also learn more by referring to the DOL Framework in Section 10 or the Resources in Section 11.

Evaluation Checklist