Fall 2026 Course Schedule

Week	Date	Guiding question	Topic	Story	Case Study	Assignment
1	9/1	What is program evaluation? Where are we headed in this course?	Introduction and Overview	John Snow
2	9/8	Why do evaluation?	Goals and Types of Evaluation	High Line Park	Jobs Plus in NYC	CR1
3	9/15	How to identify causal effects?	Logic and Causal Models	Bombing in Vietnam – War and Development	Northwest Housing Alternatives	CR2
4	9/22	How do I account for everyone involved?	Stakeholder Engagement	John Muir and National Park System	ARPA-E	CR3
5	9/29	How do I use the scientific method in the real world?	Evaluation Designs: Randomized Experiences	Esther Duflo and RCTs	Microfinance and RCT	CR4
6	10/6	What if a randomized experiment is not viable?	Evaluation Designs: Quasi-experiments	Michael Greenstone and Environmental Economics	Air Quality and Life-expectancy	CR5
7	10/13	Class following Monday schedule - No session
8	10/20	How to do case study evaluation?	Evaluation Designs: Qualitative Methods	Elinor Ostrom and Case Studies	NYC G&T Programs	CR6
9	10/27	How to manage challenges in evaluation?	Overcome Resistance and Improve Organization Capacity	James March and Organization Theory	American Red Cross Haiti Relief	CR7
10	11/3	Where does the data come from?	Data Collection: Procedures, Instrumentation, Practical Considerations	Fei-fei Li and ImageNet	AI and Big Data in Development Evaluation	CR8
11	11/10	What methods make data tell accurate stories and solve problems?	Data Analysis: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed analysis	Hans Rosling and Storytelling	CUNY SEEK Program	CR9
12	11/17	Is the program worthwhile? What happens next?	Economic Evaluation and Performance Measurement	Robert Bullard and Environmental Justice	CBA of EPA Clean Air Act	Proposal, CR10
13	11/24	How to be an ethical evaluator?	Ethics, Principles, and Standards	The Moral Machine
14	12/1	Presentation
15	12/8	Presentation
16	12/15	Presentation
17	12/22	Evaluation report	Student Projects

Note: CR: Case Response