Measuring Success

How many people showed up? How much did it cost us to run that program? How often are the programs you run being evaluated on one or both of these questions? How often are the top goals of your program about the numbers? Jewish education and Jewish living are about meaning-making, not about quantifying – and yet we consistently measure success by the numbers, doing a complete dis-service to our participants, our staff, and our stakeholders. In putting an emphasis on qualitative assessments, we open the doors to better understanding WHY our programs are successful (or not). Just evaluating a program based on the numbers never gets us to understanding what motivates our participants, what impact we had on their lives, and how our plan and vision came to life. In the last two years, I have spent a lot of time training groups on a unique approach to evaluation which ensures that staff, lay-people and stakeholders (i.e. funders and board members) assess the vision of the program, the process of implementing the program, and the meaning and the relationships the participants derive from the experience. Check yourself the next time you ask a colleague “How many people showed up?” and consider what other questions you might ask to assess success.