ABSTRACT
It may be useful to consider, first, what is meant by the term "program evaluation". The process of program evaluation, then, is an effort to judge the extent and efficiency of accomplishment and to find ways of improving it. Generally speaking, program evaluation serves little purpose if it exists in a world unto itself, isolated from the process of program management. Those processes go well beyond the individual who may be identified as the program manager. The president and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) engage in program management when they recommend legislation and funding levels for a program, or promulgate rules which affect it. State and local governments engage in program management when they exercise their discretion to decide whether and how the program will function in their jurisdictions. The manager who makes effective use of high quality evaluation work will compete more successfully than the one who does not.
