FAQs+on+evaluation

A. Each congregation is required to conduct an evaluation of its initiative, using surveys, focus groups, and/or individual interviews. In general, the design of the evaluation is up to each community. However, as part of this evaluation each grantee is required to survey participants in its initiative at the beginning and the conclusion of the program year and collect responses to certain questions relating to Jewish practice and identity: The grantee is free and encouraged to expand the evaluation beyond these basic survey questions. //**Here is a document listing the questions required to be asked of participants twice during the year: [|required LHIP Cong Ed evaluation questions.doc]**//
 * Q: What evaluation are we required to conduct as part of our participation in the Legacy Heritage Innovation Project?**

A. You may use these funds (approximately $3,000 in most cases) in various ways. You may wish to engage a local expert in evaluation research (if you have not already) to help your project team think through and design your logical model of change and establish a process for revisiting that model on consistent basis. You might also use that professional to help you design a qualitative evaluation instrument (e.g., a protocol for interviewing individual participants) or to help design and/or conduct a focus group for project participants, and/or the required fall and spring focus groups addressing the degree of systemic functioning (see below). If you need assistance identifying such a professional please let me know. Those of you who are clustered in a geographic area may wish to pool your resources in engaging an appropriate professional.
 * Q: How should we use the funds set aside in our budget for evaluation purposes?**

A. For mid and end of year reports, //**first year grantees are expected to convene a focus group**// consisting of professional and lay representatives from different aspects of the congregation (e.g. rabbi, ed director, reps from your ritual, tikkun olam, education, youth committees) for the purpose of examining the extent and nature of systemic functioning in your congregation. For example, you will need to explore the degree of communication and collaboration among these different aspects of the synagogue. //**Renewed grantees are required to conduct focus groups only once per year**//, including the findings in the midyear report. A protocol for these focus groups will be provided. Here are sample questions which might be used for such focus groups:
 * Q. Will we be required to conduct focus groups?**

1. How would you **characterize the current extent of interaction among different //demographic constituencies//** (e.g., religious school families, day school families, preschool families, singles, “empty-nesters,” teens, etc.) in your congregation? 2. In what ways do you envision your Legacy Heritage Innovation Project initiative increasing and deepening the relationships among these constituencies? 3. To date, what evidence (anecdotal or otherwise) do you have that such relationships are being fostered and/or deepened, or of active collaboration between these constituencies as a result of your initiative? What steps might you take to improve in this area?
 * __I. Fostering Relationships between Different Congregational Constituencies__**

1. How would you **characterize the current extent of interaction between or among different //professional staff//**, such as the rabbi, educational director, executive director, family educator, etc.? Consider the type of communication (email, phone, face to face), the nature (informational or collaborative) 2. In what ways do you envision your Legacy Heritage Innovation Project initiative increasing and deepening relationships between these staff members? 3. To date, what evidence (anecdotal or otherwise) do you have that such relationships are being fostered and/or deepened, or of active collaboration as a result of your initiative? What steps might you take to improve in this area? 4. How would you **characterize the current extent of interaction among different //governing bodies//** (e.g., preschool, children’s education, adult education, ritual life, social action, teen committees, etc.) in your congregation? 5. In what ways do you envision your Legacy Heritage Innovation Project initiative increasing and deepening relationships among these governing bodies? 6. To date, what evidence (anecdotal or otherwise) do you have that such relationships are being fostered and/or deepened, or of active collaboration between these governing bodies as a result of your initiative?
 * __II. Nurturing Greater Collaboration among Staff and Lay Leaders__**:

1. How well-informed and engaged is your congregational leadership (e.g. the executive committee and board) regarding your Legacy Heritage Innovation Project initiative? What steps have you taken and might you take to inform and engage the congregational leadership? 2. Has your initiative grown out of a process of creating or revising a vision you’re your congregation? If not, has it created interest in developing such a visioning process? 3. How is the initiative //aligned// with (that is, consistent with or supportive of) the congregation’s vision for its future? How do you see the project helping fulfill this vision? What evidence (anecdotal or otherwise) do you have that this is occurring?
 * __III. Promoting Greater Alignment between Congregational Vision and Programming__**__:__