Spring 2025 Course Schedule

Week	Date	Guiding question	Topic	Story	Case Study	Assignment
1	1/28	What is program evaluation? Where are we headed in this course?	Introduction and Overview	John Snow
2	2/4	Why do evaluation?	Goals and Types of Evaluation	High Line Park
3	2/11	How to identify causal effects?	Logic and Causal Models	Bombing, Heating, and Causal Models	Jobs Plus in NYC	CR1
4	2/18	Class following Monday schedule - No session
5	2/25	How do I account for everyone involved?	Stakeholder Engagement	John Muir and National Park System	ARPA-E	CR2
6	3/4	How do I use the scientific method in the real world?	Evaluation Designs: Randomized experiences	Esther Duflo and RCTs
7	3/11	What if a randomized experiment is not viable?	Evaluation Designs: Quasi-experiments		Northwest Housing Alternatives	CR3
8	3/18	How to do case study evaluation?	Evaluation Designs: Qualitative methods
9	3/25	How to manage challenges in evaluation?	Overcome resistance and improve organization capacity		NYC Gifted & Talented Program	CR4
10	4/1	Where does the data come from?	Data Collection: Procedures, instrumentation, practical consideration	Fei-fei Li and ImageNet
11	4/8	What methods make data tell accurate stories and solve problems?	Data Analysis: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed analysis	Hans Rosling and Storytelling		Proposal
12	4/15	No session-Spring Recess
13	4/22	Is the program worthwhile? What happens next?	Economic Evaluation and Performance Measurement	Robert Bullard and Environmental Justice	CBA of EPA Clean Air Act	CR 5
14	4/29	How to be an ethical evaluator?	Ethics, Principles, and Standards	The Moral Machine
15	5/6	Presentation
16	5/13	Evaluation report

Note: CR: Case Response