Rejuvenating Neighborhoods and Communities Through Parks—A Guide To Success www.NRPA.org National Recreation and Park Association © 2011 All Rights Reserved 53 Implementing Outcomes Assessment This recent emphasis on outcomes assessment is appropriate for Parks Build Community, an initiative of the National Park and Recreation Association (NRPA) In the past, the success of a park or event might be determined in either of two ways: by tallying the number of people who attended or participated or by measuring the cost effectiveness and cost recovery The organizations that have led the way in this approach tend to be those that receive funding through the 21st Century Community Learning Center grants, from United Way, and from other grant-giving organizations United Way agencies began asking their beneficiary organizations they supported to provide outcome indicators, for greater assurance that the activities or interventions they were funding were delivering the intended results Colleges and universities have been under similar scrutiny by state departments of education Outcomes Assessment Outcomes assessment essentially asks two questions: • What are the outcomes or results achieved by an agency’s actions and activities? • How does that agency assess or demonstrate these outcomes or results? This approach has gained popularity in the last decade because it takes the focus away from the organization’s activities (what it did) and instead attempts to assess the results and outcomes of those activities (what it made happen). Here are terms that are common to most outcomes assessments • Goal – the important or overall purpose of the park, program, service, or policy • Inputs – the resources that have gone into the project, such as money, staff, equipment, or volunteers • Activity – what your agency actually does related to this purpose or goal • Outputs – tangible evidence based on the inputs, such as two new picnic gazebos or one multipurpose field • Process – the actions and activities undertaken by the agency • Outcome – the desired results of the agency’s actions or the benefit to the participant or the community Short-term outcome – a result that can be observed in a relatively short period of time, such as one session, one month, or one summer season Long-term outcome – an overall desired outcome that addresses an important community issue or need, but one that will not likely occur or be observable until some point in the future • Outcome indicators – observable, measurable characteristics of changes that represent the agency’s progress toward reaching the desired outcome • Data sources – methods and techniques used to assess changes, such as observation, interviews, and surveys • Performance measure – a quantifiable measure to assess the outcome; an outcome indicator
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