Welcome to the ECD Evaluation section of our site. This section provices information about ongoing work that Succes By 6 and a number of partners have undertaken in BC to develop shared measurement evaluation systems.

The Early Childhood Development [ECD] Evaluation project created a shared measurement evaluation and reporting system for two types of early childhood development programs in BC:

  • parent education and support programs
  • community capacity building initiatives

Shared measurement evaluation – using common tools for a range of different programs with similar goals - is quite different than evaluation of a single program or numerous programs of the same kind. There are many benefits to both funders and agencies, including: reducing duplication, providing information for program improvement and allowing for province-wide and regional reporting.

The project was led by a cross-sectoral group of BC funders and agencies with funding support from the Max Bell Foundation and the BC Ministry for Children and Family Development, and managed by the United Way of the Lower Mainland.

To learn what the project achieved, see Results of the Project and Lessons Learned.

The BC Early Childhood Development Evaluation system is a community – government collaboration that has created an integrated evaluation and reporting system for programs supporting healthy early childhood development in BC in the areas of:

  • Parent education and support.
  • Community capacity building

A governing body, composed of representatives from both the community and government sectors, provides overall direction and coordination. Those represented are:

In addition, a reference group provides advice and support in the ongoing work.

Success By 6 is taking the lead in the supporting the ongoing administration of the community capacity building evaluation. The Early Years Team in the Ministry of Children and Family Development is taking the lead in supporting the ongoing administration of the parent education and support evaluation.

Survey technology through FluidSurveys provides a user-friendly platform for users to enter data and retrieve reports. In addition, because common evaluation tools are used, the results can be rolled up regionally and provincially, providing overall evidence of impact.

For more information on partner roles and data access, please see the Operational Terms of Reference and the Governance Terms of Reference.

More about ECD Evaluation:

The ECD Evaluation Project - Why It Matters

Quick Guide to Progress of the BC ECD Evaluation Project

BC Evaluation Project Report: Can We Agree on Common Child Outcomes for BC?, February 2006 by Carol Munro. This is the founding document that identified research related to evaluation frameworks and outcomes for early childhood development in BC, in Canada and internationally. It is through this process that BC ECD Funders agreed to four Ultimate Outcomes for children in BC.

Background

In the fall of 2005, the BC Early Childhood Development [ECD] Funders agreed to work together to test whether it was possible to identify and agree upon common child outcomes for BC. After reviewing relevant research, the BC ECD Funders network adopted the following vision and ultimate outcomes for ECD in BC:

Vision: Children are healthy and develop to their full potential.

Ultimate Long-Term Outcomes:

  1. Mothers are healthy and give birth to healthy infants who remain healthy.
  2. Children experience healthy early child development, including optimal early learning and care.
  3. Parents are empowered to nurture and care for their children.
  4. Communities support the development of all children and families.

These four Ultimate Outcomes reflect the reporting requirements of the provinces to the federal government and most ECD programs in BC have one or more of these goals. The next steps in the process involved developing evaluation frameworks [logic models and shared measurement tools] for two of the outcomes:

   3. Parents are empowered to nurture and care for their children.
   4. Communities support the development of all children and families.

Some key principles that have guided the evaluation project are:

  • Purpose of the evaluation is clear
  • Information collected is useful
  • The tools are simple to use
  • One report can be used for multiple funders
  • Users are involved in the design
  • Support is provided to build local evaluation capacity [training, webinars, User Guide, resources and contact person]

The process for developing evaluation tools and reporting systems for each of the two outcomes involved:

  • Developing a logic model which shows relationships between the resources, activities, outputs and outcomes of a program
  • Developing tools to collect the data
  • Involving a trial group of users in reviewing the logic model and tools and then pilot testing the tools
  • Ensuring users receive their data, along with suggestions about how to interpret the data
  • Refining the process and tools based upon what is learned in the pilot
  • Providing opportunities for ECD groups throughout BC to participate in the evaluation.