16 • Institute for Work & Health (IWH)
Consider various evaluation methods for assessing the success (or not) of the program. Even
if a formal evaluation of the program with the embedded essential skills curriculum is not
possible due to resource constraints, some kind of evaluation strategy is needed.
Evaluation of the initiative could include assessing whether or not the changes to the
curriculum improve learning outcomes, as well as whether they improve the safety of
observed work practices on the job.
If your evaluation includes a comparison group, it's a good idea to collect information about
trainee characteristics that may affect outcomes beyond the inclusion of ES training. This is
helpful because randomly assigning trainees to take either the modified or regular training
program will rarely be feasible (and randomization is one way to ensure that it is the program
you are evaluating that is making the difference and not something else). In our pilot, for
example, trainees had already signed up for the training courses, not knowing that some
training groups would be given the regular program and others the modified one. By collecting
information on trainee characteristics, you can "control" for these characteristics when
comparing outcomes between trainees who received the modified program and trainees who
received the regular program.
Develop the evaluation strategy
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It is helpful for the assessment to have a comparison group in order to be able to compare
outcomes of trainees taking the modified program with the outcomes of those taking the
regular program.
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